Sealed Within
by HeWhoEscapesReality
Summary: During the sealing of the Kyuubi something goes wrong. Something neither Minato, the death god or Kyuubi himself could predict. Join me, as Uzumaki Naruto's life is turned upside down in a series of events that will change the fate of him and his friends.
1. Prologue

Sealed Within

Oh, and another important thing. Well, two things actually. First, ENGLISH is NOT my first language. Second, I am reading lots of good fics and I am also heavily inspired by them. There is a high possibility; no I am certain, that I will have very similar events or ideas of some stories. Please stick with me on that. And if you think that I have gone too far taking ideas from other stories and/or of you are an author who has used them, feel free to contact me and I will see if I can change the particular section.

Whoever finds spelling or grammar errors can keep them. Seriously, they're yours. My Christmas gift to all of you. But if you do find some major mistakes tell me in a** REVIEW or PM. Thank you!**

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Prologue.

The Fourth Hokage sat in the Hokage's office, head hanging down, eyes fixed onto the ground. The office was crowded with several prominent people, such as the leaders of various clans, or important ninja. They would have used the council meeting room which would have provided sufficient space, wouldn't it already be in ruins due to a large boulder flying through the air, as the Nine-Tailed Fox had the great idea of throwing boulders at the village. A large bowl of beef ramen stood on the Hokage's desk. It was still hot and steaming when the sad looking Hokage decided to continue eating it. Even his famous hair seemed sad, the tips seemingly bending downwards. He slowly raised his head, lifting his eyes to look at the gathered people. Nobody said a word, the silence was overwhelming and the tension was so thick; everyone felt affected by it. If anyone thought about saying a word, they wouldn't dare. Because this would most likely be the last bowl of ramen that Konoha's Yellow Flash would ever eat. After a few minutes of intense eating and slurping, the bowl was as empty as Tsunade's piggy bank. The Hogake looked up again. Sorrow filled his eyes. Sadness. Even the cold blooded Uchiha Fugaku, head of the Uchiha clan, father of Uchiha Itachi and the newly born Uchiha Sasuke, had to look away.

"I thank you all for coming here, in one of the darkest hours Konoha has ever seen," The Fourth said, finally breaking the silence, "and I am sure that there will be even darker ones to follow within the next hours."

No response. Complete silence.

"I have made up my mind. Kyuubi is unstoppable and the only way to defeat it is to seal its soul into a newborn. As I told you yesterday, I will not ask any of you to sacrifice their child, for that would be against every sense of humanity and my pride as the Hokage."

Again, complete silence.

"Therefore, I shall seal Kyuubi no Kitsune inside my own son."

A few gasps in the crowd. "Y-you have a son, Hokage-sama?" somebody managed to ask.

"Yes... I do. He was born last night, 1:59 in the morning," he replied while clapping his hands twice, "and he shall be the hero of our village." He said finishing the sentence as a rather large pillow was brought into the room. Inside the large pillow was a small baby, tucked under a small blanket, sleeping peacefully, totally oblivious to the surrounding crowd.

The baby had golden hair, already spiky, sticking into all possible directions and easily rivalling the hair of his father in that aspect. His eyes were shut and he was peacefully sucking on this right thumb.

"Take a good look people. This will be the person to save you from total destruction." Then he clapped his hands again and the nurse who brought the small baby into the room left, bringing him now to the sealing chamber. Jiraiya, who stood behind his student the whole time, put a comforting on Minato's shoulder. Feeling the hand on his shoulder, Minato turned to his right and smiled at his sensei. He then turned back to the crowd and started speaking again.

"To all those of you gathered, young and old, listen closely." The Hokage now had full attention. "As you know, there is a 99 per cent chance of me dying while performing the sealing. These will be my final instructions as a Hokage. These will also be classified as laws of the village and my friends here," he pointed at Jiraiya, Tsunade and the Third, "will make sure that you will obey these laws. Is that clear?"

Everybody nodded.

"I said, is that CLEAR?" He asked again, raising his voice. With a result.

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" The gathered people answered in union.

"Good, now listen. My son's name will be Uzumaki Naruto. Nobody, except Jiraiya-sensei and Sarutobi-sensei are to inform Naruto OR any other ninja or villager of his lineage. My wife... she is in a deep coma and has been brought away from the village. She is in the company of my two most trusted ANBU members who are the most skilled medic nins and exceptional fighters. I have instructed them to leave Konoha and escape to a city, far away from here. This scroll," the Fourth pulled out a scroll from his robes and handed it to the Third, "contains the exact location of that village and will be handed to my son when Jiraiya or the Third think he is old enough to travel there without getting himself killed."

The crowd nodded, most of them with a sympathizing glint in their eyes.

"And... one more thing." The Hokage's voice now changed into a low whispered growl, "if any of you EVER dare to hurt my son, I will make sure that you will pay and live through his pain tenfold in the afterlife... That's my last promise."

Those words were full of power and authority, even the cold Hyuuga and Uchiha had shivers going down their spines.

"Now... come and say your final goodbyes, my dear friends."

Some people left without a word, only deeply bowing into the Hokage's direction. Their heads hanging low and you could see their emotions across their faces.

As the Hokage stood up and moved in front of his desk, those who wished to bid farewell to their beloved leader lined up. The first ones were the two village council elders, who said nothing but deeply bowed to the Hokage. If they had any emotions, they hid them perfectly well.

Next was Hyuuga Hiashi who had recently been announced head of the Hyuuga clan. He looked the Hokage straight into the eyes and said

"Our relationship may not always been the best, Hokage-sama, but I deeply respect your decisions and the love for our home village. You shall always be rememberd as one of the greatest leaders in history and will always be respected by the Hyuuga clan. May your next life be a joyful one." After bowing and saying that, all the Hyuuga's left.

Next one was Uchiha Fugaku. He too bowed deeply and then spoke, "Hokage-sama... I don't know what to say. Except that you shall be remembered among the Uchiha's as the strongest leader Konoha has ever had and the first person to be fast enough to make my Sharingan useless."

The Hokage grinned at that statement. "And I could do it again. But hey, I still think that you're a bastard with a stick up his ass who took over a year to realize that she," he pointed behind the man, at his wife, "was so crazy in love with you that she would even go up against me in a ramen eating competition if it would make you show some reaction."

This statement lead to light laughter among the remaining people and two blushing Uchiha.

Next in the line was a young Uchiha. He had black hair and wore a black shirt with a large Uchiha fan printed on the back. He normally wore his Jonin vest but he took it off for this occasion. He was none other than Uchiha Itachi. He got down on one knee, and bowed his head in respect. His voice was quiet but the room was in complete silence due to his rather strange behavior. Even though he was one of the male Uchiha's who was blessed with the ability to show a tiny bit of emotion in public, it was still a rare sight to see.

"Hokage-sama, I swear on my eyes that I will do my best to protect your son as good as I can."

A lot of eyebrows rose. An Uchiha swearing on his Sharingan eyes was the highest form of promise that an Uchiha could give. And the fact that such a young Uchiha who, by the way, had received Jonin status at such an age did such a vow was even more unique.

The Hokage gave one of his genuine smiles. One of those smiles which would make girls chase him all over Konoha. If it hadn't been for his famous Flying Thunder God jutsu, nobody would even want to think of what his fan girls would have done to him.

"Thank you Itachi. You don't know how much that means to me."

Itachi raised his head and smiled back. The Hokage patted him on his head and had to fight back a tear.

The next ones to approach him were the remaining two members of his team. Kakashi and Rin. Both of them had tears running down their cheeks.

Several goodbyes and hours later...

Minato, the Fourth Hokage, Konoha's Yellow Flash, stood on Gamabunta's head. Next to him on Gamabunta's head was a small table with the pillow on top of it. Naruto was still asleep. Minato looked at the sleeping form of his son and ran a hand through his spiked blonde hair on his small head. He sighed. Minato did not dare to look behind him. All of the remaining shinobi were standing on top of Konoha's walls, along with two of the Sannin and the Third who would ironically be his successor. All eyes on him. All lives relying on him. If he didn't succeed in sealing the Fox into his own son, who knows what Kyuubi would do to the village. Minato's eyes wandered to the woods where the Fox made his way towards him and the ridiculously large toad he was standing upon.

_'Am I doing the right thing? Sealing the fox into... Naruto. Naruto. My Naruto. My son. Kushina said that I should. That I'd have to. Yes, I have to. The lifes of everyone rely upon my young boy. But... Even if he is their savoir, they will still treat him a way... in a way they would treat an actual monster. Then is easy to predict... The villagers who lost loved ones will need an outlet for their rage and sadness.'_

Minato bend down and kissed his still sleeping son on the forehead, while his hand trailed down to his kunai holster and pulled out one of his famous three-pronged kunai. He used the kunai to make a small cut on his thumb and smeared the blood onto Naruto's stomach. Kyuubi was dangerously close now. Tears started forming in Minato Namikaze's eyes as he started performing the series of hand seals. Kyuubi noticed him doing something and came to halt, only a few meters away from Gamabunta.

"**So. You are facing me now, aren't you?"**

Minato didn't bother to reply, as he held a mental conversation with the Death God.

"**Human! I will kill you. Devour you. You death shall be my purest enjoyment."**

Minato finished his conversation with the Death God who was now preparing himself to feast on Kyuubi's devil part of soul so that Minato could seal the rest into the newborn. Minato couldn't seal the entire soul of the Fox, it would be way to large for Naruto to hold inside. That's why the Death God would eat the 'bad' part of Kyuubi's soul which would result in the 'good' part being able to be sealed inside Naruto.

"Oh, hi Mr. Fox. Yeah, you see, this is the end."

"**HOW DARE YOU. I will RIP YOU APART, HEAL YOU and DO IT AGAIN."**

"Really? Wow. But in case you haven't noticed, you won't ever have the chance to do that."

Kyuubi let out a feral growl and started to swing one of his tails at Gamabunta who was bracing himself for impact, but the impact never came. Instead, Kyuubi's tail froze dead in its tracks.

"**W-what i-is h-h-happening?"**

Minato was too weak to answer. He could feel his life energy leaving him. Images flashed in front of his eyes. His old team. Kakashi, Rin and Obito. His sensei, Ero-sennin. All the fun he had back then. Then images of him and Kushina entered his mind. Their wedding, the first time they've met and all the ups and downs they went through together.

He somehow found the energy to turn his head and to look at Naruto. To his surprise, Naruto's eyes were open. Those blue orbs looked right back at him. And he smiled. Naruto's first smile and Minato was still alive and able to see it. The smile burned its way into Minato's brain. The smile which said everything. A genuine smile. Maybe even a smile of forgiveness. The images of Naruto flushed into Minato's brain. The first time he had held him in his arms, and Naruto's tiny hands tightly holding onto his Hokage robes.

The will to protect Naruto surged thorough Minato. All he wanted at that moment was to protect Naruto with everything he had. Guiding Naruto through his life and being there for him when he needed a father to be there for him.

That was the moment he noticed that something was wrong. Something had changed during the sealing process. Minato could feel something else being sucked out of him. But it wasn't being sucked in by the Death God, no, by something else.

Then everything went black.

The last thing he could hear was, **"Oh shit, not agai-"**

**End of Prologue.**


	2. Meet Naruto!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the media involved. I do not make any money by writing this story, I write it in order to improve my writing skills, kill my spare time and have fun.**

Sealed Within – Chapter 1: Meet Uzumaki Naruto

11 years later.

11 year old Naruto's head shot up from his pillow. It was 5 o'clock in the morning. Rubbing his eyes he got up and walked to the shower, zombie style. Sighing, he undressed himself from his boxers and his awesome night cap and stepped into the shower. Like every morning, he prayed that he would be greeted by warm water, and like every morning he got disappointed as ice cold water splashed into his face.

"Stupid landlord will regret this," he muttered while showering in ice cold water, "when I become Hokage I'll make sure that he will never ever have a warm shower in his whole life again."

His face expression turned from a frown into a confused one. He kept on having the same dream over and over again. The dream was the reason why he woke up at 5 am every damn morning for the last week. In the dream he walked down a sewer like corridor with water reaching to his ankles. The walking continued until he reached a large room. The moment he entered the room always was the moment he would wake up. Not once he had the chance to examine the room or proceed any further.

Little Uzumaki shrugged and continued his daily routine. Little did he know that his dream was actually a part of his mind, and little did he know that events were unfolding within his mindscape which should change his life forever.

A certain demonic fox was contemplating inside Naruto's mind.

Kyuubi didn't sleep. He would take a nap every now and then, but he hadn't slept correctly for centuries. Demons said that sleeping is a weakness because it could make you an easy target. Kyuubi didn't quite agree, but he couldn't care less. No threats were nearby that could attack him. In fact, the only way to somehow hurt him was to attack his prison warden.

That's why Kyuubi spent a lot of time extending his senses from Naruto without Naruto noticing. This way he could scout the surrounding area with his senses and see if there were any threats to the boy nearby. Kyuubi had sensed dangers multiple times and had always sent a silent, but very urgent suggestion to the brain which consisted of ordering the brain to order the body to run and hide somewhere until the danger had passed.

Most of the dangers were sensed on the 10th of October, the day poor Kyuubi got sealed inside this good for nothing boy. Kyuubi could hear and see the things the boy saw and heard. But he couldn't quite feel physical things. Only if the feelings were overwhelming, like extreme pain or sadness. What Kyuubi could feel were emotions the boy had and he could also see how the boy was hiding many of his emotions by grinning in combination with foolish behaviour.

Still, Kyuubi knew things about the boy no one else knew. He knew that his boy was a lot smarter than the boy acted and looked like, in fact, this boy was quite intelligent if he had the correct motivation. The demon found himself to actually be quite impressed with Naruto, because the boy taught himself everything. Like using the toilet, boiling water to cook ramen, using chopsticks and putting on his few clothes being just a few examples. Surprisingly, without any external teaching, Naruto had the ability to speak at a very high level for his young age. Kyuubi didn't know the exact cause for this, but he was quite sure that his influential chakra had something to do with it. Another thing which the Kyuubi had to give Naruto credit for was that Naruto somehow managed to survive in the isolated environment he was in. No friends. No family. No guardian.

But there were exceptions, and those came in the form of four other humans, each vastly different to another.

These people, Kyuubi sensed, were accepting his prison warden as a person, not as a demonic threat. First there was this girl with white eyes who had followed him since the day they met in the academy. Kyuubi was good at reading people, and from what he could say, this girl had some serious confidence issues. How did he know? Maybe the constant stuttering, finger twiddling, blushing or staring at the ground gave it away. Unfortunately, his vessel was a bit too dense to sense the girl following and watching him.

Then there was the old man who appeared to be village leader, similar to the blonde one that had sealed him in the first place. He always smiled at the boy and would check on him every few weeks, secretly buying groceries for Naruto. The man known as the Hokage also was the only person to congratulate Naruto on his birthday and bring him a present every year.

Then there was this academy teacher with the large scar across his face. The boy called him Iruka and even if the teacher was strict on the boy sometimes, he still accepted him and would treat him to a few bowls of ramen occasionally. Whenever Naruto pulled a prank, he was most likely to be found and restrained by Iruka.

The last person confused the Fox to some extent. Naruto himself had never seen him nor did he ever have a conversation with this person. But this person would follow Naruto in the shadows and prevent people from hurting him. Especially on the day Kyuubi got defeated.

At the age of six, Naruto walked through the streets of Konoha, obviously lost. The Hokage had him move into an apartment and Naruto wasn't familiar with the way home and got lost on the way back home after his daily ramen. It was late afternoon and Naruto was wandering around for several hours but never dared to ask people how to get there. And to make things worse, it was the 10th of October. At first, people just shot him dark glares or simply ignored him.

Then, when the sun began to disappear and more and more people had more than enough alcohol in their blood, things started to look bad. Naruto was still stalking through streets, muttering to himself about ramen. When he turned around a corner into one of the main streets, he was greeted with a rather large mob of drunken villagers or ninja. When they noticed him, their blood lust rose and their intent to make sure that this 'demon' would never walk these streets again became obvious. Short, they wanted to kill him. As slow... and painfully as possible.

"Let's make the demon feel what we felt when it killed our loved ones!" Someone shouted and everyone made some agreeing sound. This often led to the Kyuubi rolling his eyes. This general exclamation was so predictable and overused.

When Naruto noticed that he was in big trouble, and that immediate escape was the only way to avoid extreme amounts of pain, he turned around in order to run, only to be greeted by more drunk and angry villagers, wielding shattered bottles and stones as torture weapons. They slowly closed in on him, trembling in anticipation. Tears started to form in Naruto's eyes and he broke down to his knees, much to the amusement of the drunken mob.

"Why!? What did I do to you people? I never hurt anyone! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Naruto screamed through a series of sobs. He had never been as scared in his short life.

"Look at that, people! The demon is disguising himself as a small child! Let's make sure that it regrets messing with us!"

"Yeah!" "Let's burn him!" "Kill it already!" Were the responses. Things were definitely looking bad for Naruto. Kyuubi remembered plotting while the villagers advanced towards the small Naruto. Just as the first thrown shuriken made its way to Naruto, a figure appeared behind the young Uzumaki and quickly pressed two fingers into a spot on his neck, leaving Naruto unconscious at an instant. The dark figure then caught the shuriken with his free hand and threw to the ground. The villagers were somewhat surprised by this.

"Who the hell are you, you punk? Hand over the boy so we can have our way with this demon!"

The person did not answer. Instead, he carefully put young Naruto onto the ground and pulled away the hood which covered his hair and face. This revealed a young and handsome man with raven black hair which would cover his face if it weren't for his forehead protector.

The ninja and villagers looked shocked as they stared at a pair Sharingan eyes with three tomoes (the small comma-shaped things) which slowly started to rotate.

"My name is Uchiha Itachi. And now, I will make you feel the pain you deserve. I have sworn to protect this boy from scum like you. The Hokage would be very disappointed in you useless scum."

Itachi was known all across Konoha for being the Uchiha Prodigy. He was exceptionally strong in all ninja arts, having developed new techniques by himself. One of those would be the ability to cast genjutsu on people by just creating eye contact. He formed a series of handseals.

After a few minutes his eyes returned to its normal dark colour as he looked down at the slumbering form of Naruto. They were surrounded by dozens of unconscious citizens or ninja, most of them being Chunin level.

The raven haired boy carefully picked the boy from the ground and carried him to his apartment.

Unknown to him, Kyuubi was watching very carefully.

--

Back to the issue about Kyuubi not sleeping. When Naruto came back from his secret training session in the woods last night and went to bed immediately, Kyuubi felt something. Something he hadn't felt in centuries. Kyuubi was... tired. And Kyuubi also knew that something was terribly wrong. Something just felt wrong. He had experienced a similar feeling when the Hokage sealed away his freedom. Anyway, Kyuubi fell asleep the moment Naruto did.

When Kyuubi woke up, he instantly knew something was different. Very different. Kyuubi looked around, and his eyes would have popped out, if they could have. First of all, his cage was different. His body wasn't squeezed into a tiny space anymore. He could now properly move around, his tails swinging proudly in the air. He looked to his left and noticed that the cage wasn't gone completely.

There were walls, the symbol for 'seal' glowing on them every few meters. The size of his cage apparently doubled over night. And the bars and gate were also there.

"**Now that is strange. It appears that my prison has expanded... If this actually is a prison. Am I still sealed within the boy?" **Kyuubi asked no one in particular. What surprised him was the fact that somebody answered his question.

"Yep, this still is inside Naruto's seal."

Kyuubi turned around and found himself starring at a pair of bright blue eyes.

--

Real world.

Naruto finished his morning routine and had just finished his third instant ramen bowl. It was now 6 a.m. Still way too early. It was Friday and academy class would start at 9 a.m. 3 hours to kill. Just as Naruto left his apartment, a strong headache kicked in. Naruto gripped his head with his left hand, forming a fist with his other hand due to the strong pain. It left just as quickly as it came. Naruto just shook his head and walked down the stairs, heading off to a clearing in the woods where he would always do his 'secret' training.

The streets of Konoha were still empty, meaning that he wouldn't have to use dark and narrow side streets in order to reach the woods. Once he arrived at the clearing which he used as a training ground, he started with some simple warm up exercises, such as doing a few jumping jacks and stretching his muscles.

He reflected the lessons learned in the academy about chakra control and started working on his Bushin jutsu. Every time he tried, a crippled, cruel and pale looking clone of himself poofed into existence, not even able to move.

His frustration started to grow as his clones became more and more deformed. Naruto sat down on the dusty ground and started to think.

_'What the hell am I doing wrong? I am trying so hard and I am following Iruka-sensei's instructions. But still, all I get is a shitty and crippled... thing.'_

Without noticing, Naruto started to rub the back of his head, running his hands through his spiked blond hair. Then he heard something.

"Try using more chakra."

"What?" Naruto asked confused. The voice was clear but Naruto didn't know who the voice belonged to. After a minute with nobody responding, Naruto asked again.

"Who said that? Show yourself!"

Again, no reply.

_'Maybe I am just imagining things. But why would I imagine something like 'Try using more chakra.'? Can you even imagine a sentence? Argh, whatever.'_

After Naruto was sure that nobody was nearby, he stood up and formed two hand seals, but this time pumping a lot of chakra into the jutsu, even though Iruka said to use a little amount of chakra. The result left Naruto with eyes as large as Tsunade's... jugs... but of course Naruto did not know who Tsunade was at that time. What he did know, was that he was looking at a perfect replica of himself.

"HOLY MOTHER OF KAMI!" Naruto yelled in surprise. The clone mimicked his movement. He focused some chakra and made the clone stand still. He walked around it, inspecting it from every angle he could muster.

When his round was complete, his grin was so big; it easily outmatched Gai's 'good-guy-pose-grin'. But again, Naruto had no idea who Gai was and couldn't care less at that moment. He had just successfully created his first perfect clone.

Naruto jumped high into the air, grinning and cheering. "Woohoo!" After completing his victory dance, he examined at his clone in a more serious manner.

_'Strange. All I did was adding more chakra than I usually did. Just like that... voice... told me to. Maybe I can also use some of the other jutsu now. Just add more chakra. It worked for my Bushin, so why shouldn't it work for other jutsu?'_

After dispelling his clone, Naruto put his hands together to do another basic academy jutsu. Henge. The transformation jutsu that was just as bad as his previous clones had been. Naruto concentrated on the Hokage and put more chakra than usual into the jutsu.

"Henge!"

And again, the result was devastating. Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pocket mirror which he always brought with him to his training sessions in order to check how his transformation turned out.

This time his eyes didn't try to pop out, but his jaw felt really heavy and dropped to the floor. The young blond took his eyes of the mirror, used his free hand to rub his eyes and looked at the mirror again. Nothing had changed. It was as if he was looking at the real Hokage.

"God... please... don't tell me... that I am dreaming." With that Naruto dispelled his perfect Henge, walked over to a tree and smacked his head into the tree as hard as he could manage. Then he formed the hand seal again and transformed. Same result.

_'Holy hell! I am not dreaming! This is the real deal!'_

Naruto smiled and sat down on the dusty ground again. He felt something he had never felt before. It was the feeling of accomplishment.

Meanwhile in Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto's mind scape.

**"Aww shit. Come on Kami-sama, this isn't funny anymore."**

"Huh?"

**"Is this for real?"**

"Well, I am standing in front of you, so yeah; I'd say this is real."

**"How did this happen?"**

"How did what happen?"

**"YOU,"** Kyuubi said while pointing two tails accusingly at the figure standing in front of him, **"Are that guy who put me in here in the first place! What the HELL are YOU doing IN here, in MY cage??"** The Kitsune roared.

The person started laughing. After a minute or two, he regained his composure and spoke.

"Oh yeah. About that. Sorry for sealing you inside my son. I think we got off at the wrong pace. Let's start all over! Hi, I am Namikaze Minato, former Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, the person who sealed you in here and I also am the person you will be stuck in here for an unspecified amount of time!" The blue eyed and blond haired person said in a happy voice.

**"Well, I am Kyuubi no Kitsune, legendary nine-tailed fox and greatest demon of all time. If you wouldn't mind explaining how the hell you got here, then I might not rip you into pieces, heal you again and-"**

"And then rip me into pieces again." The Hokage finished for him. The Fox just shot him a dark glare. "Fine, I'll explain. During the sealing, I felt that something was wrong. The sealing technique I have used on your furry behind can only be used at a high price: to sacrifice your own life in order to seal the desired soul into a body or container. I was at the verge of death and I experienced a major flashback. Just as I was about to die, my eyes fell upon my newborn son, and the desire to protect him from harm and to be by his side as he grows up, grew so strong that every part of my body was vibrating with that desire. Then I felt something else leaving my body and everything went black. I think that, instead of my soul leaving earth, my soul was being sucked into Naruto's seal, being pulled there by the trail your soul was leaving.

**"So you're telling me that you were here the whole time."**

"Mh, yeah. I think that the seal I created realized that Naruto's mind wouldn't be able to hold three presences at the same time and locked me somewhere in between his mind, where you were, and the seal. Like you, I was somewhat able to see and hear the things Naruto did. But not half as clear and good as I can in here. I feel like as if I just woken up from a really weird dream. Everything I saw out of Naruto's eyes is... somewhat hazed and blurry. I think that his mind is now strong enough to hold all of us at the same time, so the seal released me and I got pulled inside Naruto's mindscape."

**"Wow, that was quite a mouthful."**

"Screw you!"

**"Hahahaha... just kiddin'."**

"I can see that we're going to have a wonderful relationship." Minato said with a grin on his face.

**"Pfft. Anyway, I assume that Naruto doesn't know about you or me."** The fox said grimly, a somewhat more serious expression taking its place on his furry face.

"Indeed. We'll... just have to confront him."

**"Yeah. I have a plan. For the last few days, his sub-consciousness has been bringing him here," Kyuubi explained while making a gesture indicating that he was talking about their surrounding, "but I have been able to refrain him from entering by simply making him wake up. Tonight when he falls asleep, we wait for him to come here and then confront him. I think it'll be easiest if you confront him first. You're a human and have a human appearance. And he has heard your voice before, because of the advice you gave him on the bushin. You try to explain to him. Then I come."**

"Wow, that was quite a mouthful." Minato said casually.

**"Grrr..."**

"But that sounds like a good plan. Let's do it that way." Minato added with an agreeing tone.

**"Fine."**

They both fell into silence for a few minutes, deep in thought. After a few minutes, Minato broke the silence.

"Hey..."

**"What?"**

"I'm hungry. Ever thought about eating something in here?" The former Hokage asked as his stomach started to rumble.

**"No... Haven't thought about eating."**

"Ok. Well, let me try something."

He closed his eyes and began to concentrate. Suddenly, literally out of nowhere, a table with a large ramen bowl poofed into existence. The Fourth just smiled and laughed like a small child getting his favourite food and sat down at the table and began slurping, being totally oblivious to the rather large fox behind him whose jaw just connected with the floor and eyes popped out. After the fox fixed his jaw and eyes, he practically yelled at the eating blond.

**"What the FUCK did you just do? How did you make that table with the ramen come out of nowhere?"**

"Quite simple actually. Concentrate on something hard enough and it will appear. This is a mind scape, remember? Neither of us has complete control over this mindscape, only Naruto has total control. But we can still make our time in prison more enjoyable. Go ahead, create something."

That you didn't have to tell Kyuubi twice. Without a word the fox closed his red eyes and started to concentrate. Minato watched him with interest as Kyuubi slowly started so grow smaller. Then a large boar appeared, grilled and ready to be eaten. Kyuubi opened his eyes, showing his teeth in a foxy grin and started to dig in.

Minato turned away as decided Kyuubi that any form of manners weren't necessary in any sort of way. Trying to distract himself from the rather disturbing sounds the fox was making, he created a very large and comfy couch and sat down with bowl of popcorn, watching what his son was up to.

Real World.

Naruto arrived at his apartment. He couldn't remember if he had been that happy before. Probably not.

_'Yay.... This day has been great so far! I managed to successfully perform Bushin and Henge no jutsu! This is awesome! I can't wait to show everyone at the academy.'_

Naruto looked at his alarm clock. Still 20 minutes until class commenced. Then something hit him which you could call realization.

_'If I come to school being able to perfectly perform the two jutsu I sucked most at, they're gonna think that I cheated somehow. Nobody will care, that, ME the DEAD LAST has finally accomplished something. Kiba will be all cocky telling how much of an idiot I am. Sasuke-teme will just make fun of me or ignore me. Sakura-chan and Ino-pig will say that I could never be as good as their 'oh so great' Sasuke-kun. Shikamaru will probably figure out that I was training. He is really smart but hides it, saying everything is too troublesome. But why would you hide being smart? I think he could totally wash the floor with Sasuke-teme in a battle of smartness. But at least he won't react negative. He'll just say it's too troublesome to think about._

_Well, I guess I am not the person to talk either. I also haven't showed my true strength and knowledge... The only other ones I can imagine who won't react negative would be Hinata, Shino and Chouji. Chouji never reacts negatively towards me. I think he respects me because I beat him in the ramen eating competition. Shino never reacts to anybody, he just sits there and looks at his bugs. And Hinata will probably turn red again when I try to talk to her. At least she's friendly when she talks to me. But why does she keep on turning red all the time?'_

Minato and Kyuubi both sweat dropped as they heard Naruto's thoughts, especially at the Hinata part. Kyuubi just shook his head and Minato just sat there, looking a bit puzzled. Due to him not being in the mind scape but somewhere in between, he often missed out on parts of Naruto's life. He knew about the key parts but most of things were in a haze. As if he experienced Naruto's life in a dream or something. He would ask Kyuubi later about it. The feeling of regret also made its way into Minato's mind. Regretting that he couldn't be there for his son. But at least he would be able to help now. So he spoke.

"Don't be afraid, Naruto. Just show them your jutsu when you have to. Try to ignore the people who aren't nice to you, for they don't deserve your attention. Instead, turn your attention to the people who don't react negatively towards you."

Naruto's head jerked up instantly. There was this voice again! But this time, it seemed to be really close... almost as if it came from inside him!

"Huh? You again? You're the person who helped me with my jutsu! Please come and show yourself! Please... I really want to thank you for your help!"

Minato thought for a second, feeling Kyuubi's eyes burning holes in the side of his head.

"I'm sorry, I can't show myself right now. But later, I promise. Just do me a favour and don't tell anyone about me, OK?"

"I won't tell anyone if you show yourself later!"

"Good, you have yourself a deal. Take my advice to your heart. Turn your attention to those nice to you... But now, you might want to look at your alarm clock. I'll see you later."

Somehow, Naruto trusted the voice without even thinking about it. The voice just sounded so friendly and kind. He just had to see the owner of that voice. But Naruto did take his advice to his heart and took a look at his alarm clock. 10 minutes left. Sighing, Naruto went to his small desk in his living room, and placed his books inside his backpack and made his way to the academy, still thinking about the strange voice. As he reached the bottom of the stairs he decided to push that matter aside for now and walked down the street towards the academy.

He could feel several hateful gazes in his back but did his best to ignore them. He once read in a scroll "Be friendly towards your enemies, for nothing else will anger them more than that."

So Naruto did what Naruto did best: faking smiles and grinning at the people starring at him.

As he progressed through the streets, Naruto saw a girl his age with purple black hair standing at a cinnamon roll stand, buying some freshly made cinnamon rolls. Naruto knew only one person who had that type of hair and decided to approach her after some moments contemplating. He had an image to maintain and Hinata was one of the few people that didn't seem to see him as a utter waste of precious space.

"Good morning, Hinata!" He said cheerfully as he stood beside her.

The girl immediately froze.

"Hinata? Is everything alright?" Naruto asked, worried about her condition. Freezing up like that wasn't natural, was it? He didn't know the girl too well, but he kinda liked her. She was different from the others like Sakura and Ino, because she didn't seem to dislike them like they did. And the fact that she wasn't a Sasuke fangirl also added to that a lot. What did the Uchiha have that made him so damn special? He was just a sulking and brooding emo who's trying to be all cool and calm.

The shy Hyuuga summoned upon all her confidence and turned to Naruto. _'Kami-sama! Naruto just said hello to me! Respond, I have to greet him aswell!'_

"O-oh... G-good morning too y-you too, Naruto-kun!" Hinata managed to say without completely losing her voice or fainting. But still, the blood started rushing too her face.

Naruto smiled at her and said, "Going to the academy, Hinata?"

"Y-yes." Was all the Hyuuga could say. _'I must be dreaming... Naruto-kun just started a conversation with me!'_

"Cool, me too." Naruto replied. "Hey, do you mind if I walked with you?" Naruto asked the shy heir.

And again, it took Hinata every drop of confidence not to faint right there at an instant. She even managed to smile a little. Even though she smiled, her face invented new shades of red and crimson.

"N-no I wouldn't mind at all, N-naruto-kun."

"Great! Let's get going!" Naruto cheerfully said as they made their way to the academy. Nobody paid attention to the two kids as they made their way to he academy, walking side by side, just like friends did. If anyone would have bothered to look closely, they would have seen a young blond boy with slight whisker marks in his face walking next to a young but madly blushing Hyuuga girl. But to their luck, nobody did notice and they progressed to the academy.

After a minute of silent walking, Naruto decided to break the silence.

"Hey, Hinata. Do you mind if I ask a question?"

Hinata summoned all her power in order to speak a full sentence around Naruto without stuttering.

"No, Naruto-kun. I wouldn't mind at all."

"Wow, Hinata, you just, like, didn't stutter!" Hinata blushed madly at that remark. It was a compliment, and it meant a lot to her, even if Naruto didn't quite notice.

"Thh..ank you Naruto-kun." She almost stuttered at the first word but managed to suppress it.

"Anyway, I would like to ask if you could tell me a little bit about the Byakugan."

Hinata's eyes widened slightly as he said that. Hardly anybody in the academy knew about her Kekkei Genkai for the Hyuuga's requested that any material taught at the academy mentioning the Byakugan to be modified. Everyone above the rank of Chunin knew of it, and so did most Chunin, but Genin generally only know if they were placed on a team with a Hyuuga. Academy students normally didn't know.

"Ano, Naruto-kun, may I first ask how you know about my Bloodline Limit?"

"Hinata, no need to be so formal around me, I've never had anyone talking to me in a formal manner. In fact, I think you're the first person from the academy who I've properly talked to outside school." Naruto replied, the sad undertone evident in his voice. "Just say, something like 'how do you know about that?'. That's easier for me because I'm used to it!" Naruto explained to the girl while waving his hands around in some sort of intense fashion.

Hinata was having an internal debate on how to answer to that question. The solution being, _'Naruto-kun just told me something personal! That means that he is... opening up towards me! And if I want him to be more open around me, then I must do the same!'_

"I'm in a similar situation, N-naruto-kun," she replied with a bit of stutter, "but it is the other way around. You are the first person to talk to me in an informal manner outside of school for longer than a few moments..." Her voice too had a somewhat sad tone to it, very similar to the one that Naruto had displayed.

Naruto's eyebrows rose when she said that.

"Looks like we have something in common, Hinata. I know... how it feels." Naruto suddenly found a pebble on the ground very interesting. "But to answer your question, I don't quite know how I know about the Byakugan. I might have read about it once... but I can't remember. Sorry." He explained and apologized with a sheepish grin on his face.

"Oh... That's alright Naruto-kun." The academy building was now in sight. "So what do you want to know about it?" This was one of her first casual, informal sentences. A moment to remember.

"Mh. Does it really give the user an almost 360 degree field of vision?"

"Yes. I think of it having your eyes extended so you can look around you without moving your head."

"Wow, that's really cool. Can you also see chakra?"

"Yes, it can see chakra clearly... You could compare the chakra to a blue flame."

"That's awesome, Hinata! Say, can you use it?"

Instead of answering, Hinata said, "Oh look Naruto-kun. We're already there." Indeed, they have already arrived at the academy. A faint look of disappointment lingered on Naruto's face for a few seconds and then vanished. But it was there long enough for Hinata to see.

Before they entered, Hinata spoke up, "Ano, Naruto-kun?"

"Yes?"

"We could... umm... if you don't have... uhm... any plan for after school... we... could talk some more... if you'd like to..." Hinata managed to say. She didn't stutter but hesitated to say the parts of the sentence.

Naruto didn't hesitate a second. "Yeah, I'd love to, Hinata!" He didn't quite know why he agreed without thinking.

Then they both entered the academy and walked down the hallway to their class room. For once, Naruto wasn't late, in fact, he was 4 minutes early.

Hinata entered the room first and instantly made her way up the last row to sit in her standard seat. She normally sat there alone which she actually enjoyed. Normally, nobody sat next to her so she could enjoy the peace and observe the happenings in the class room. _'I wish... I wish... that he would sit... next to me. Kami-sama, if you hear this... please make my wish come true.'_

Naruto stood in the middle of the class room, not sure of where to sit. If he sat in his standard seat today, he would have to endure the smell radiating from Kiba and his dog_. 'I'd rather sit next to Sasuke-teme than to endure Kiba's smell.'_

But if he decided to sit next or near to Sasuke, Sakura and Ino would be there. Naruto didn't mind Sakura because he thought that she was pretty. But she was mean to him and always turned him down if he asked her out for lunch. Naruto didn't really like Sakura. Just like all of his other 'stupid' antics were because he wanted to have at least some attention. Attention he'd been missing for the last 11 years.

His eyes scanned the room and found a few vacant seats in the last rows. He saw a familiar figure sitting in the right corner in the back of the room, last row. The person was none other than the person he arrived with. _'Should I sit next to Hinata? Maybe she'll think I'm a stalker or creepy guy if I do. But she asked me if we could do something together after school. Argh, might as well just sit next to her.'_ Just as he finished that thought, the words of advice which were given to him by that strange voice popped into his head. So he smiled and made his way to the last row and sat down next to Hinata.

Hinata looked up and would have fainted, but some mysterious power kept her awake. Next to her sat the only person she would want to sit next to. She found herself starring into two blue orbs. She could spend days just looking into his wonderful blue eyes. The heir asked herself why no other girl noticed his beautiful eyes.

Naruto smiled at the girl to his left, and a new emotion started to build inside him. The emotion of being nervous around another person. And a bit of shyness. Naruto never felt shy, usually.

"Uhm, Hinata, is it... ok if I sat here?"

Another new thing. Blushing. The 'turning red thing'.

_'Is this how Hinata always feels when I am around? Does she turn red because she's nervous and shy?'_

Kyuubi laughed. Minato let his head hang in defeat.

**"My, what a smart child you have here, human. This took him SO long to realize, I was starting to wonder if he ever would."**

But Naruto didn't hear that. And even if he did, he wouldn't notice because he was too busy thinking.

_'But if she turns red because she's nervous... Then why is she nervous in the first place?'_

**"Wow. I guess it's too hard for him to realize two things at the same time. Must be his fatherly side."** Kyuubi commented while laughing. Minato just shot him a glare.

"Are you saying I'm dumb?"

**"No, no... I would never say that. But I'll explain it like this. This slice of bread,"** a slice of bread poofed into existence, **"would be able to comprehend the actions of the girl." And again, all Kyuubi got was a glare. In return, Kyuubi simply shrugged and ate the slice of bread.**

Naruto's thinking got interrupted as Hinata spoke.

"No... Please feel free to sit next to me... whenever you want, Naruto-kun."

"Really?" A slightly shocked Naruto answered. No one had ever offered him anything like that. All his class mates would frown when he sat next to them. Hinata was the first who didn't mind him sitting next to her, but she also offered that he could sit next to her whenever he wanted. Most villagers would only offer him a beating to the ground.

"Y-yes."

"Thanks Hinata!" Naruto said as he was thinking of hugging her, but refrained from doing so. It would be too awkward and she was a girl. He then turned his head and attention to the happening within the class room. Nothing extraordinary. Ino and Sakura were brawling over the right to sit next to Sasuke, Choji was munching some potato chips, talking to Shikamaru about something. Shino was examining some bugs, writing down some notes every now and then, Kiba was trying to impress some random girls with Akamaru, which was rather unsuccessful.

Sasuke put on his semi-emotionless face, a scowl appearing every now and then. He simply turned his head to the window as a horde of fan girls approached him. Even if he was used to being annoyed by his fan club, he still became irritated every now and then. In moments like this, he wished he could be more like Naruto.

'_God... I would do almost everything to have a little less attention... a little more like Naruto. He's doesn't realize how lucky he is that hardly anyone pays attention to him. This fan club... it's so irritating! Not even turning gay would free me from this curse.'_ Sasuke thought. His fan club was surrounding him by now, and escape was no option. They would simply follow him around, no matter where he dared to go. He had tried several times. Every escape route, no matter how fast, long, short, narrow, disgusting, they would follow him.

Sasuke had found himself contemplating murder. I'd be so easy to just take a Katana, lead the fan girls to the forest, and chop them up mercilessly. But he couldn't do that, unfortunately. This fan girl problem had been going on for way too long, ever since he joined the academy. It had become so bad that he had to go to the Sandaime, who had generously placed many seals onto his newly steel reinforced apartment doors and windows.

_'Wait. Thinking of Naruto, I haven't heard him today... Is he dead?_' Sasuke thought. Normally Naruto would burst into the room, yelling how he would be the next Hokage and kick everyone's ass. Not today. His eyes first wandered to the clock hanging on the wall.

_'Strange. It's 9:05, and Iruka-sensei is late. Naruto who is normally late hasn't shown up yet, has he?'_ Again, Sasuke let his eyes wander around. No sign of Iruka. He looked behind him and to his surprise, he found Naruto sitting in the last row next to the quiet Hyuuga Hinata. Sasuke's eyebrows rose as he saw Naruto observing the events in the class room instead of yelling and running around like he usually did.

_'Naruto is sitting in the back with the Hyuuga. And he is not screaming around. Something's up with him. Anyway this does not get this fan club away from me._' Quickly having a look around, still no sign of Iruka. Then he put his plan into action. He got up from his seat and made his way to the door. It's unnecessary to say that his fan club was right on his heels. Just as he left the room, he made a run for one of the other hallways and quickly turned around a corner and creating a bushin heading the opposite direction of his actual position. He then jumped into the air and held onto a lamp.

His fan girls reached the corner and saw his clone running away and followed it without hesitation. When his annoying fan club was out of sight, he returned to the room, but instead of heading back to his previous seat, he went up the stairs to the last row and simply sat down next to Naruto.

Hinata and Naruto both turned around to the newcomer, and both pairs of eyebrows rose as they saw just who had decided to sit with them. Sasuke just nodded towards them, and just as Naruto was about to say something, Sasuke put his index fingers on his own lips, making Naruto confused but didn't say anything. Sasuke quickly nodded thankfully and put his hands together, forming a seal and using the henge no jutsu. When the transformation was completed, Hinata and Naruto saw a totally different boy. Naruto recognized Sasuke's appearance, which resembled one of their absent class mates. The blonde was confused and wanted to ask Sasuke what he was doing here, but Hinata tapped him on the shoulder and pointed at the door. Naruto turned his head and saw a brigade of girls entering, who happened to be Sasuke's fan club.

After a few seconds of intense thinking, Naruto came to the conclusion that Sasuke was here in order to avoid his fan club. He shrugged and turned his head back to Hinata.

"Hey, Hinata?"

"Yes, Naruto-kun?"

"Where do you want to go after school?" Naruto asked with his unique grin.

Hinata blushed a little at his question but pulled herself together and answered.

"Uhm.... how about that clearing in the woods where you always trai-" She quickly clapped both her hands over her mouth as she realized what she'd said.

"What clearing in the woo- hey how do you know about that?"

Hinata wanted to sink into the ground and disappear. _'No! Now he'll think I'm a stalker or creepy girl! Why does this always happen to me... Kami-sama... If you could make another of my few wishes come true... please... don't make Naruto... hate me.'_

Before Naruto could ask any more questions, a large cloud of smoke appeared in middle of the class room. As the smoke cleared, it revealed a person in Jonin uniform and lots of silver shining hair on his head. Another remarkable thing was that his forehead protector was covering his right eye. There was a mask covering the lower half of his face.

His visible eye was closed and... well you could say that his visible eye cringed... and smiled. It kinda closed and curved upwards...

_'Maybe it is his way of smiling. To make up for that mask.'_ Naruto thought, but his mind was still focused on Hinata knowing about his training place in the woods.

The Jonin waved and spoke up.

"Yo. I'll be your substitute teacher for today, Friday and Monday. All other teachers are busy and Iruka-san is on a mission. My name is Hatake Kakashi."

_'Hatake... Kakashi... Hey I know that guy! He's the son of the legendary Konoha's White Fang! But.... How do I know that? Might as well ask him!' _thought and decided to ask this new teacher.

"Hey, sensei! Can I ask you a question?"

"Mhh?" Kakashi turned around and looked at Naruto. _'So... He must be Uzumaki Naruto... Sensei's legacy.'_ "Sure, go ahead."

"I don't mean to pry or something, sensei, but aren't you the son of the famous White Fang?"

Kakashi's visible eye widened a little when he heard his deceased father's nickname. _'That's weird. He shouldn't know that. Academy texts don't cover anything on Konoha's White Fang... the texts only mention him as an honourable person who let his team's mission fail in order to save his team mates lives... they don't even say his name.'_

"I'm impressed, Naruto. How do you know about that?" Kakashi asked with slight interest in his voice.

"Eh... Uhm... To be honest sensei, I can't remember." Naruto answered, looking a bit confused himself, but strangely enough, Naruto really didn't know about his source of knowledge.

Kiba snorted. "For once in your life say something smart, idiot, and then don't even know how you know something like that. No wonder you're the dead last."

Another unusual thing occurred. If this were a normal day, Naruto would be shouting around and throwing insults at Kiba. But not today. Naruto simply let his head hang and stared at the ground between his feet. Not that his class mates noticed. But Kakashi and Hinata did. From what he heard from Iruka, this boy wouldn't let such a remark just pass by him, he would jump to his feet and pick a fight with the boy. He then noticed the sad expression in his eyes, even if his face was emotionless. Kakashi's visible eye hardened.

"So... An Inuzuka, huh? What's your name?"

"I'm Inuzuka Kiba, and this is Akamaru," Kiba proudly shouted, "and together we could wipe the floor with everyone in this class room!"

"Ah. Is that so?" Kakashi simply asked, getting a nod and an affirmative bark from Akamaru. "Well," he continued, "my first impression of you is awesomely... bad." The students could feel the room temperature drop several degrees. "I don't like you. People who don't respect their class mates are nothing more that trash. I'd bet all my money on my bank account that several people in here could defeat you."

Kiba obviously didn't notice the temperature change, but Akamaru did. Akamaru hid behind his master's back and let out a small yelp. "I don't think so, Kakashi-sensei! Surely, nobody here is as strong than me."

"Oh really? Well, let me just say that I know for a fact that many people in this class room could prove your statement false."

"Is that so, sensei? The only one here strong enough here is you!"

"I'm pretty sure that's not true."

"Then tell me, who can beat me?"

"As you wish. First, there's Aburame Shino. His family is known for their unique and very powerful techniques with their Destruction Bugs, and I've seen the results of those attacks first hand as I've worked with his father on several occasions. He could drain all your chakra before you know it or he'd just let his bugs eat your flesh, all the way down to the bone." Several people shivered at that thought and looked at the ever silent Aburame who didn't seem interested as he inspected a bug on his hand. "Next, we have Uchiha Sasuke. I believe I don't have to tell you how powerful the Uchiha Clan is... or was. Their ability to use fire is amazing, and they grow even stronger after they unlock their handy Doujutsu." This naturally led to all the girls (except for Hinata) to drool and start searching for Sasuke; their faces covered with pink hues.

"After that we have Nara Shikamaru. Despite his grades," Kakashi looked over a document on the table which was a summary of all the student's marks, "He is very much capable of fighting. Every ninja in the village knows that the Nara Clan is unsurpassed in their strategic knowledge and creativity when it comes to offensive and defensive tactics. Konoha has avoided many losses over time due to the brilliance of the Nara brains. Shikamaru would've probably analysed every possible scenario and counter measures before you even decided to attack. Again, I'm talking from firsthand experience, as I've fought alongside several Naras in my years. It's no coincidence that Shikamaru's dad is one of the Hokage's most trusted advisors."

This time, all the eyes wandered to Shikamaru who seemed annoyed and muttered something about troublesome Jonin who knew too much.

"And I'm not done yet. Our next example is Hyuuga Hinata. The Hyuuga Clan is currently the strongest in our village and Hinata's the heiress for a reason. They use a very complex and advanced form of Taijutsu and have their own Kekkei Genkai. You can choose what she'd do to you. Would you like to see your brain pour of your ears before you die? Or how about she makes your lungs collapse, just like that. Maybe she'd like to hit your chest with several quick and low powered strikes which would lead to your heart being charged in rapid succession, making it beat too fast, and eventually stop? Yeah, that's an interesting way to die." Kakashi explained, rubbing his masked chin as if he was contemplating the results of such an attack.

Naturally, most people turned their heads to see a heavily blushing Hinata. Naruto gave her an awed look and smiled brightly, bringing her to the verge of consciousness.

"And last but not least, we have Uzumaki Naruto. Now, let me explain why I believe that Naruto has the ability to defeat you. You may not know, but Naruto's quite capable, especially if you consider his chakra capacity." Kakashi smiled beneath his black mask. The information Iruka gave him on the key students was proving to be quite helpful. "He could outlast you several times. And we've all seen his pranks. Trust me, he is a person that can come up with good and effective stuff under pressure and on the spot, which is also an explanation as to how he always gets away with his pranks. Yup, there have been instances where Naruto caused several Jonin, ANBU and Chunin to chase after him through the whole village, and every time it took more than a few hours to get him. Most of the times, he outlasted the ANBUs and got away." Kakashi told the students, his visible eye happily curving upwards.

Kiba let out a dog like laugh. "Sensei, stop joking!"

Kakashi looked at Kiba, somewhat surprised. He had just given detailed reasoning to his stand point. _'I guess he's like his mother... Hot headed and over confident. Sheesh, I remember how long it took until his mother understood that she's not the strongest fish in the pond.'_

"Shino? He's got grades below average! He's some creepy guy who spends all day staring at those icky bugs. We haven't seen him use any of his bugs yet! His dad might be strong, but surely isn't! Sasuke's nothing but a show off! Sure, he's an Uchiha, but his high and mighty attitude is just annoying! I'm tellin' ya sensei, Sasuke's nothing but good looks! So what, he can spit some fire, it's nothing special! Shikamaru? Are you kidding me? His marks are lower than Naruto's! He spends all of lunch time just staring at the sky and in class all he ever does is sleep! You're saying that Hinata is stronger than me? Sensei, she's weak! I mean, okay, her family's got some fancy Taijutsu, but she's never used it before and it wouldn't do her any good against me anyways! She's so quiet, I wonder why she's even here! Ugh! And Naruto!? Naruto? Kakashi-sensei, you've got your facts wrong! Naruto can't even do the Henge or the Bushin! Not even the replacement technique! Him and Hinata are weaklings!!!"

This was one of the biggest mistakes Kiba ever did in his early life. A poof could be heard as Sasuke dispelled his henge. It wasn't often that Sasuke showed an emotion besides being annoyed, but he was clearly angered now. Shino took his attention away from his bugs and turned his head to Kiba's direction. Shikamaru just smirked and shook his head. Hinata was somewhat affected as she took those words personally. It was hard enough that he father called her weak and disgraceful, but being called weak like that in public was even harder. Naruto turned his head towards her and saw her head hanging down in sadness. But worst of all, he could see tears starting to form in his eyes. Something snapped inside him. Kyuubi was the first one to realize.

**"My observation, based on factual knowledge, is that your kid is clearly agitated by the dog's statement**." He said to Minato. Minato just looked at him and smiled.

"Yeah. Naruto just snapped. Nothing will stop him from picking a fight with that Inuzuka. Even if I _am_ his father and should prevent him from fighting this kid, I won't, because I can't. Besides, that Kiba kid has gone far enough with insulting the Uchiha, Aburame and Nara, but directly insulting Hinata that hard in front of the whole class and calling Naruto weaker than everyone is clearly crossing my line of toleration."

**"Indeed. If I could I would do my ripping to shreds, healing and then ripping apart thing again. But hey, I can't. How about we help our warden a bit in the fight?"**

"Help him?"

**"We could feed his brain with some jutsu. Nothing too harmful, but maybe something flashy. That would be a good show and may earn him some of the respect he deserves."**

Minato now grinned like a small child. He hadn't thought of that. "Yeah, let's help my young child. You got any jutsu in mind?"

**"Oh yeah. A lot of deadly... I mean nice... jutsu... Hehehehe..."**

Back in the class room, you could feel the temperature drop several degrees again. Kakashi also noticed the Killing Intent radiating off Naruto and smiled underneath his mask.

The temperature was pretty low now. It was spring and the temperature outside was high enough to still wear t-shirts and shorts. But now, it felt like winter. Most of the young academy students started to shiver. Some girls looked scared. As Kakashi saw the scared looking girls, a thought entered his mind_. 'If these girls get scared from this, then why are they here in the first place? This is nothing compared to the real world.'_

Kakashi's line of thought got interrupted as the complete silence was broken by the person who made the temperature drop in the first place: Naruto himself.

"... Say that again." Naruto's voice was nothing more than a quiet whisper. But still, everyone could hear it. Kiba who was still standing after his rant turned around as he heard Naruto speaking.


	3. Epic Battle!

**This is chapter two, containing my first ever written fight scene! It also contains the confrontation of Kyuubi, Minato and Naruto.**

**Please be so kind to drop a review, so that I know what to improve on. Constructive Criticism is highly appreciated.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the media involved. I do not make any money by writing this story, I write it in order to improve my writing skills, kill my spare time and have fun.**

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Chapter 2: Epic Battle!

"Come again, baka?"

"I said... Say that again." Naruto's voice changed. It was now a low and fearsome growl.

"Say what again? Look you idiot, if you're going to talk to me, speak in clear sentences." Kiba said in his cocky voice.

"Insult me and my friend again and you'll regret it." Naruto's voice didn't change. It still was a like a growling animal... like a fox.

"You and your friend? What the hell are you talking about, you don't have friends."

Naruto snapped again.

"Insult me and Hinata one more time and I'll make sure you'll regret it for the rest of your life." Naruto said a bit louder this time. But his head was still hanging low and eyes fixed on the ground, voice low and feral.

"So, what are you going to do about? Both you and Hinata are nothing but weak losers! I don't even understand what you two are doing here in the first place! You need to be tough to be a ninja. She's petite and weak and you're absolutely useless, you can't even create a proper clone! And isn't Hinata supposed to be strong? She's from the high and mighty Hyuuga clan, isn't she?"

Sasuke who, as I said before, normally doesn't show emotion, was clearly anxious by now. Because of the trauma he had when his clan got reduced to nothing but him and his brother, he was able to feel killing intent at a much better level than most of the other students.

And he never felt it to this level before, not taking _that_ fateful night into consideration.

Sasuke and the other academy students had never seen Naruto show another emotion than being happy in some from. But this was completely different, as the usually carefree boy turned very, very serious and almost seemed to be shaking.

"Kiba... let's go outside..." Naruto said, this time back to whispering again.

"Go outside to do what? So you can throw little pebbles at me? Or try to tickle me to death? Hey, you could even use Hinata as reinforcement!"

"No... Let's go outside... SO I CAN SMASH YOUR FUCKING FACE INTO PIECES, DOG-BOY!" Naruto roared that last part. 'Yelled' and 'shouted' and 'screamed' wouldn't be a proper description of Naruto's outburst.

"Pah, fine, let's go and Akamaru and I will give you a beating you'll never forget, DEAD LAST!" Kiba replied with a smirk on his face. He was already standing at the door with Akamaru on top of his head. Naruto rose from his seat, hands clenched into fists. Sasuke quickly got out of his seat to let Naruto pass through. When Naruto walked down the stairs, more and more people got up and followed Naruto in order to go outside.

Hinata also got up and walked next to Sasuke. He looked at her and spoke.

"This should be interesting."

Hinata looked at him in surprise, but didn't answer. After a few moments, she decided to ask Sasuke something.

"Sasuke-kun, do you think that Naruto-kun can win?" Hinata asked with a quiet voice.

Sasuke's eyebrows rose at that question. Even if he himself thought that his reply would be out of character, the author of this story couldn't resist but to make Sasuke say it.

"He'll win. After all, he's doing this because Kiba insulted you. If Kiba hadn't insulted you, he would get his ass kicked by someone else... But when he said that you're weak and useless, I could almost hear Naruto snap. He called you a friend... He won't forgive Kiba easily." Sasuke explained.

Behind Sasuke, a certain pink haired girl walked. She almost fainted. _'Oh my God. Sasuke-kun just said more than one sentence!!!'_

After she finished thinking that, she turned to Kakashi and asked a question, loud enough so that everyone, even Naruto who was walking at the front, could hear. Kiba was already outside waiting.

"Kakashi-sensei, aren't you going to stop them?"

"No."

"Oh." Was all what Sakura managed to say

"Of course I'll intervene once things get too frisky. It's a personal matter and I'm not really the type of person who's qualified to teach at the academy... It's not like I've got anything better to teach you." Kakashi said while searching for a certain book in his pouch. Hinata didn't evem hear what Kakashi said.

_'Naruto-kun is doing this for me! He is putting himself in danger to defend my honor... And he called me a friend! HIS friend... Kami-sama, please let Naruto be ok. I don't know if I could manage to see Naruto getting hurt because of me.'_

Meanwhile, Minato and Kyuubi were discussing the best way to make Kiba cry like a baby.

**"Are you sure you want him to use that jutsu? I mean, it is one of your signature moves and I don't know how that Kakashi student of yours will react when he sees it."**

"I am sure that I want my son to use my jutsu. I'll make sure that it's not fully powered, but strong enough to send that Kiba kid flying. And if I didn't have to seal you in here, and still be alive, I would have started teaching my son that jutsu the day he would have entered the academy."

**"If you say so. I'm eager to see that 'blue-spinning-orb-of-doom' like you described it. How'd you call it again?"**

"Hehe... this jutsu took me 3 long years to master... it's called......" Minato started, rubbing his hands together while having this evil anime style glint in his eyes.

The students have reached the training grounds behind the school by now. They would normally have their Taijutsu lessons here. Kiba was already there doing some warm-ups. When the group reached him, he spoke to Naruto.

"You can still back out, baka. I promise, I won't hold back on you only 'casue you're a looser."

"I won't hold back either, dog breath."

Kiba just growled. "Fine, don't come crying when I cleaned the floor with your ugly face."

Naruto responded by shifting into a basic taijutsu stance. At least it looked like a basic one, but Kakashi recognized it vaguely. He only knew one person who used that stance. The crowd moved back to give the two fighters the space they needed. Kiba took Akamaru off his head and put him onto the ground.

"Akamaru, go and stand by my class mates. This guy is so weak; you won't even get a chance to fight." The puppy happily followed its orders and sat next to Kakashi who pulled a chair out of nowhere and sat down. The students took several spots near the large tree with the swing. Sasuke sat on a branch which gave him a good view of the events. He was a bit surprised to find Hinata also sitting on the branch with her eyes focused in Naruto.

Kiba readied himself and charged at Naruto without a warning. Naruto somehow anticipated Kiba's attack and simply sidestepped him, making Kiba punch the air. Naruto extended his right foot a few inches, making Kiba trip over and fall to the ground face first. He didn't know how he had been able to react too quickly, but his brain simply told him to.

The Inuzuka quickly got up and readied himself again. His attempt to make this fight end really quickly failed drastically. This time he charged Naruto a bit more careful. He brought his knee up in order to let it crash into Naruto's stomach, but the blonde caught the knee with both hands and pushed it away. Seeing Kiba's fist out of the corner of his eye, he quickly ducked, making Kiba miss again.

This left the stinking boy completely open, and Naruto decided to launch his first attack in this perfect opportunity. Naruto smashed his knee into his opponents' stomach with all the power he could muster.

The air left Kiba's lungs and the boy was trying to get some air back into his lungs. But Naruto wasn't done. Due to the force he put into that attack, Kiba was forced to bend forward, his hands clutching his stomach. Naruto saw this as another opportunity and shifted his weight onto his left foot as he delivered a solid sweep-kick to Kiba's legs. Kiba fell over, being on the ground for a second time.

Naruto stood up, took a few steps back, slid into the basic stance again and waited for his opponent to get up. He wasn't disappointed as Kiba got up after a few moments.

"Pah. Beginners luck. Or should I say loser's luck? Yeah, even a failure like you can get a lucky blow every now and then."

"Whatever."

"No seriously. It's just luck. In reality you're just as pathetic as Hinata."

This was the second mistake Kiba did during that day. He reignited Naruto's anger.

"I'll make you pay for saying that."

Now it was Naruto's turn to attack. He got close to Kiba and delivered blow after blow, all in a fluid motion. This forced Kiba into defending. But Naruto was only using the basics of this new style. He was far away from the actual taijutsu style and Naruto was far from perfect in this style. He didn't even know what he was exactly doing at some points, because his body moved on its own. But he didn't care.

The desire to wipe that smirk of Kiba's face and make him apologize to Hinata was strong enough to make him forget about his style of fighting. He didn't care what he did, as long as it made him defeat that bastard in front of him.

After a few blows, Kiba saw an opening in Naruto's attack and used it. Right after he managed to block one of Naruto's kicks, he got up his own leg and lashed out at Naruto, hitting him successfully in the side. Naruto winced from the pain and took a few steps back, only to find Kiba attacking. Kiba managed to hit Naruto in the stomach and kicked him again, right in the spot where he kicked Naruto before.

This doubled Naruto's pain but Naruto didn't even consider backing down. Instead, he did his best to ignore the pain and block the incoming attacks. Naruto managed to block one of Kiba's punches and sent his own fist right into Kiba's face. The Inuzuka was taken aback after that blow and took a few steps back. Both of them used this short break to prepare themselves for the next round.

After a few moments of rest, Kiba threw a few shuriken at Naruto and then immediately charged, but Naruto saw that coming and started block the shuriken with a kunai and quickly started to evade Kiba's attacks. Kiba faked a punch to Naruto's side and unfortunately, Naruto fell for it. He brought up his arms to block the punch which never came. Instead Kiba brought up his knee. Now it was his turn to thrust his knee into his opponent's stomach.

Naruto bent over, coughing, but Kiba didn't give a rat's ass. He grabbed Naruto at his orange jump-suit's collar, pulled him up so that Naruto's face was on the same level as his own and delivered a strong punch to Naruto's face which sent the young blonde flying away a few meters.

Hinata gasped in shock and wanted to rush to her friend to help him. But the other person next to her grabbed her shoulder and pulled her down again.

"Don't. If you interfere now, it'll hurt his pride even more. Just wait and see."

Kakashi also heard Sasuke's words. He wanted to go and stop the fight, but something inside him made him not to. Maybe it was that he believed in this boy who was his sensei's son. Then Kiba started to speak again.

"Pfft, see. You still are the pathetic dead last. Accept it, you simply suck. You are just as worthless as the Hyuuga." Kiba spat, and he didn't even bother to call Hinata by her first name.

This was the third and final mistake he made that day.

Naruto was in strong pain. His left side, stomach and face hurt. But if there was one thing Naruto didn't know how to do, then it was how to give up. _'I can't lose this! I WON'T lose this fight! I refuse to lose! Not after what he said to Hinata!"_

Slowly, very slowly, Naruto forced himself to his feet. Many of the students gasped in shock. They thought he was done for.

"Hah... Ha. Is this all you've got, dog boy? Pretty sad. 'Cause I'm just getting started." Naruto said, but the pain was evident in his voice.

"Just getting started? Look at you, you can hardly stand on your feet, idiot! I've had enough of this, you are boring. I'll end this now. Consider yourself lucky, you'll able to experience my favorite jutsu first hand! This'll talk all my chakra, but it'll defiantly make sure that you won't be getting up any time soon!"

"Whatever. Bring it on. And then I'll make you pay for those things you said to my friend!"

Kiba didn't reply to that sentence. His got out a few kunai and threw them at Naruto, who evaded them by jumping to the side. Kiba then dashed towards him as fast as he could. Naruto saw Kiba jumping into the air and to everyone's surprise, Kiba started spinning at a high rotation rate. The spinning form of Kiba started to charge towards Naruto at full speed.

**"Tsugaaaaaa!!!"**

Naruto's brain was working as fast as it could. His body wouldn't be able to take a blow like that. Naruto's hands started forming seals for a jutsu he only saw once before. Sasuke who sat on the tree recognized them, so did Kakashi. _'How does he know that jutsu?'_

Kiba's spinning Tsuga form was only a few meters away now. Naruto finished the set of seals and inhaled a large amount of air.

**"Fire Style! Great Fireball jutsu!"**

Naruto yelled out the jutsu's name at same time as the exhaled the air. Instead of air, extreme hot fire shot out of his mouth, forming a large fireball, which Kiba head straight into. The only reason why Kiba didn't get fried like a chicken was because of the fast rotation he was in. The fireball slowed him down, and Kiba landed on the floor as the fireball died down, smoke emerging from his body. His spinning and his jacket had kept him safe. Lucky him. His jacket had a few black spots and Kiba himself had a few minor burns on his arms and legs. Nothing too serious.

Everyone was surprised, some shocked. Naruto had just countered Kiba's finishing move with a fire jutsu, the same jutsu Sasuke was able to use. Sasuke had used it once on their first day in the academy when the teachers asked the new students to show a jutsu if they could.

But nobody knew that Naruto was able to perform that technique. The funny thing was that Naruto didn't even know himself. But that didn't matter at the moment, as Naruto's hands flashed though another set of hand seals. When he was done forming the seals, he put his palms on the floor and yelled the jutsus name.

**"Earth style! Earthbinding jutsu!"**

And again, nobody, including Naruto, knew about his ability to perform that jutsu.

As Naruto called out its name, the floor beneath Kiba began to crack. Kiba looked down and saw mud moving up his leg. He tried to shake it off, but it was too late. Both his legs and lower part of his stomach were now covered in hardened mud. 'Hard mud' was an understatement. This mud was _extremely_ hard, and there was no way that Kiba could escape now.

He was literally 'earthbound'.

"Wh-what did you do to me?" The shocked Inuzuka asked.

"What's wrong? Feeling a little... restricted?" Naruto asked with a slightly teasing voice and a grin on his face. He still didn't know how he was able to perform any of these jutsu, but he was very happy that had been able to. Later, he would spend some time thinking about that.

Kakashi was the person who was most surprised. This was a very complex and hard to master jutsu. Most people who performed it weren't even able to create mud which was hard enough to restrict the opponent. And this move used up a lot of chakra. But Naruto just performed that jutsu with _ease_, as if he'd been practicing for a long time. And he didn't even faint from lack of chakra. Not even after he used two chakra eating jutsu. But what would happen next would shock Kakashi most.

Naruto slowly walked over to Kiba. Kiba managed to pull out a kunai from his back pouch and started to swing it at the hard mud, without any success. Kiba's right shoulder was facing the audience and his back faced the academy building. That meant, whatever Naruto did now would be seen by everybody watching. So Kiba decided to try and take this to a verbal battle. Maybe this would save him somehow.

"Oh, you put mud onto my legs. So what, are you gonna throw rocks at me now? You don't have enough chakra to perform that fire thing again!"

Oh, Kiba didn't know how he wrong he'd been with that statement. Even if they weren't even Genin, Naruto's chakra reserves had grown from the day the Kyuubi had been sealed into him. And his chakra reserves were large.

Naruto decided not to answer Kiba. He stood about three meters away from Kiba now. His head turned to the large tree, and he saw Hinata and Sasuke watching from above. Naruto gave Hinata a smile. A genuine smile. He hadn't smiled like that since the day the old man decided to have him moved into an apartment. He used his left hand to wave at her and the audience.

"You think I'm going to throw some rocks at you? What I'm about to use on you is something you won't see every day."

Without another word, Naruto brought up his right hand and closed his eyes. The tension was eerie. No birds were chirping. Silence. After a few moments, a noise could be heard. Kakashi's eyebrows narrowed a bit when he heard it. _'This sounds somewhat familiar.'_

After another few seconds, a small _something _appeared in Naruto's hand. It was a small blue orb of incredible beauty. But the orb started to grow in size until it was large as a baseball. But again, Naruto didn't know what a baseball was, because nobody in Konoha knew that sport. When the orb reached its final size, it resembled a perfectly shaped blue orb. The chakra was spinning wildly inside, and the orb was shining bright enough to make a blind frog see it.

By now, Kakashi had removed his forehead protector from his right eye. His Sharingan was spinning wildly. _'Impossible.'_

Many gasps could be heard in the crowd. Shikamaru was watching closely, analysing the situation. Shino didn't show any visible reaction, due to his high collar and black shades. Sasuke actually showed emotion. His eyebrows were as high as they could be and eyes were slightly widened. _'What the hell is that? How does Naruto know all these jutsu? Just yesterday, he wasn't able to create a clone!'_

Hinata just stared in awe. She'd never seen anything like that before. It was so beautiful! _'Naruto-kun... How do you do that...? And he's doing all this... for me...?'_

Even Sakura and Ino looked in awe. "Wow, that's pretty cool. Who knew that Naruto could do that?" Ino said.

"Yeah, but he's not as cool as Sasuke-kun!"

"Agreed!"

"But I wonder what that blue thing does." Oh, and she was about to see.

Kiba looked shocked. He could almost feel the power coming from that thing. He was just about to say something, but Naruto beat him to it.

"Not so tough anymore, dog boy? As I said, I won't hold back on you. I will never forgive you for saying something like that to my friend. Prepare yourself!"

Naruto dashed forward, and as he dashed, he heard that strange voice again.

"Aim for his stomach. And by the way, it's called Rasengan!"

Naruto yelled just before reached Kiba.

**"THIS IS FOR HINATA! ****RASENGAN!****"**

Naruto shoved the orb into Kiba's stomach with all the power he could summon. Kiba wanted to scream but couldn't. The force of the Rasengan was strong enough to make Kiba fly out of the mud. With full speed and force, the orb made him fly into the academy building. The wall cracked upon impact.

And to think that this wasn't a full strength jutsu. Minato had made sure that this boy wouldn't die because of it; it only sent him flying with high speed and force.

The fight was over. Naruto collapsed onto the ground, feeling as exhausted as he'd never felt before. Kakashi jumped up from his seat and rushed over to Kiba. After a quick check on his vitals, Kakashi was relieved to find that Kiba only had a few cracked ribs and scratches. Kiba would be up and running after a few hours of rest in the hospital.

Kakashi then moved to Naruto who was on the ground and panting. Naruto had a few bruises here and there but was alright. He was tired due to the lack of chakra. Hinata jumped up from her position in the tree and rushed to Naruto. Sasuke sighed and decided to follow.

The other students were talking among each other about the fight. You could hear things like, "Dude, did you see that?" "That was amazing!" "Yeah, Kiba got his ass kicked!" "Yep, that dog boy had it coming."

When Kakashi saw the students running to Naruto, he decided to bring Kiba to the hospital so they could fix him up. When Sasuke arrived, he said.

"I'll bring Kiba to the hospital. Make sure that Naruto gets something to drink and tell all the other students to go and wait in the class room. I'll be back in a minute or two."

The whole fight had lasted for about 20 minutes, and Kakashi was impressed that they had lasted so long. _'The intensity of that fight... Really amazing for two students. But how does Naruto know sensei's jutsu? I can tell that it wasn't a fully powered Rasengan, but how in heaven's name does he know that technique? What is going on here?'_

After he brought Kiba to the hospital and instructed the nurse to send Kiba back the academy after he had recovered, Kakashi took a short detour to the Hokage's office. He didn't even bother knocking on the door, he just poofed himself into the room.

"Oh, Kakashi? What brings you here at this time of the day? It's not even lunch time."

"Hokage-sama, I have something very troublesome to report..."

Back at the academy.

Hinata rushed to Naruto's side and lowered herself next to him. "Naruto-kun! Are you ok? Please say something!"

His blue eyes opened when he heard Hinata's voice. Such a nice voice. He smiled when he saw her worried face.

"Yeah," he said as he got up and sat on the ground, "I think I'm alright. Just a little exhausted."

Hinata's relief was obvious. After a few seconds, she looked up, straight into his blue eyes.

"Uhm... Naruto-kun?"

"Mh?"

"Uhm... Thank you!"

"Huh? For what?" Naruto asked dumbfounded. Nobody has ever thanked him for anything. Sasuke just sweat-dropped.

"For... protecting my... honor."

"Oh... No need to thank me for that! Nobody insults my friend and gets away with it. Believe it, Hinata-_chan_! I'd defend your honor anytime!" He then noticed Sasuke standing next to Hinata. "Oh, Hi Sasuke."

"Hn. I can't believe I'm saying this, but that was an impressing fight, dobe." Sasuke's voice didn't sound arrogant or mocking. He was serious.

"Thanks. That means a lot to me, teme." Naruto answered, also serious. Sasuke nodded and threw him a water bottle. "Here, drink this. Sensei told me to give you some water."

Hinata's mind was racing... There were so many things to process. _'He just said Hinata-__**CHAN**__ to me! He normally only says that to Sakura...'_

Naruto took the bottle thankfully and then looked around. "Speaking of our substitute teacher, where is he?"

Sasuke saw that Hinata was in no condition to answer so he did instead.

"He's taking Kiba to the hospital and will be back in a few minutes."

"H-hospital?"

"Yeah, that last jutsu you used was extreme. What kind of jutsu was that? And how do you know the fire style and earth jutsu?"

Naruto wasn't sure of how to answer. If he said that he didn't know, it would be even more suspicious. So he grinned and came up with an answer.

"There are a LOT of things you don't know about me. No one here knows anything about me. The people who know most about me are Iruka-sensei and Hinata-chan!"

"Hinata? Since when is she your friend, dobe?"

Naruto slightly blushed at that question, and Hinata's face was again displaying new types of red.

"Aahh... since... uhm... today?"

"Since today?"

"Yeah, you could say so."

"Hn. Let's get inside." Sasuke said and offered a hand to help Naruto to his feet. Naruto stared at the hand for a second, but then smiled and gladly took it. With the help of Sasuke and Hinata, he made his way to their class room.

Once they were seated in their original seats, more and more people were entering the room. Naruto could feel the eyes on him every now and then. _'Amazing. You beat a sucker up once and everyone suddenly pays attention to you.'_

Inside Naruto. If you could somehow into another person's mind, you would have been greeted with the strangest thing ever if you dared to enter Naruto's mind. When Naruto used the Rasengan, something utterly strange happened. Kyuubi rose from his seating position, stood on his two hind paws and did a... victory dance. This time it was Minato who was speechless.

Real world.

Naruto was in a deep thinking session. _'How did I perform these jutsu? How do I even know them? This is really strange. First I manage to do Bushin and Henge, and now I pull of insane jutsu during a fight. And during that last one... Rasengan... the voice told me it's called Rasengan... WAIT! It was the voice again. The voice which told me how to correctly do Henge and Bushin! It all started with that voice... and it all ended with the voice. That means that the person with the voice is somehow involved in this.'_

Kyuubi stopped his victory dance when he heard Naruto's thoughts. He then dropped to the floor, rolling on the floor laughing.

**"This can't get any better. He managed to figure out that 'the voice' was somehow involved in this! Really smart this boy, really smart."**

Naruto's thinking was interrupted when a cloud of smoke appeared again, revealing their substitute teacher. All conversation stopped.

"Yo, I'm back. Kiba is being fixed in the hospital right now and should join us after lunch. That fight is a good example of what happens when you underestimate your opponent, and overestimate your own abilities. This is important, so you should try to remember this. Before we have our lunch break, let's do some geography."

The announcement of studying before lunch earned a lot of frowns form the students.

"Ah, you don't look to happy. Because I'm such a good mood, I'll only ask one question before lunch, ok?"

Frowns turned into smiles.

"Okay... Something easy... How about... Who founded Konoha? That's an easy question, right?" Hands rose at this easy question, but a certain blonde with blue eyes blurted out the answer already, not bothering to raise his hand.

"The first Hokage, and his brother the second Hokage. Together with Uchiha Ma-" Before Naruto could continue, something covered his mouth. Naruto's eyes went wide, as he saw a clone of Kakashi standing behind him, stopping Naruto from continuing. Nobody else noticed, and the real Kakashi decided to end the class.

"Well done, Naruto. But next time raise your hand. You have one hour for lunch, so get out kids."

The clone poofed out of existence and Naruto got up and followed the other students outside. When he reached the door, Kakashi pulled him aside.

"What's wrong sensei?"

"Naruto, I don't know how you know this, but the part about Uchiha Madara is classified as a village secret. Don't ever talk about it in front other students, understand?"

All Naruto could do was nod, so Kakashi let him join his class mates; he aimlessly walked around the area where students were expected to have their lunch. The area connected to the taijutsu grounds where he fought against Kiba. His eyes searched for a spot where he could sit and think without being interrupted. He found a spot behind a large tree and walked there. Naruto walked behind the tree, sat on the ground and leaned against it with his back. Minato's son normally didn't eat during lunch time due to the rather large amount of ramen he ate for breakfast. The lids of his blue eyes closed instantly and he started to drift into sleep. Or to be precise, he started to enter his mind space Much to the dismay of its two other occupants.

"**Oh no."**

"What?"

**"This isn't good. I am not amused."**

"What do you mean?"

**"Like I said before, every time he starts to sleep, his sub-consciousness brings him here, to us."**

"You think you can wake him like you did before?"

Kyuubi thought for a few moments.

**"To be honest, I don't think so. Getting somebody out of normal sleep is different than waking somebody from a sleep which is infused with chakra exhaustion and something you could call emotional stress."**

"Damn, so your plan to confront him tonight won't work. We'll have to confront him now. No other choice. Or at least, I'll confront him. I don't know what would happen or how he would react if he found out during his lunch time, that the nine tailed fox is sealed inside him."

**"Fine. I'll just be here in my cage."**

"Oh, so it's YOUR cage now, huh?"

**"Yes, MY cage."**

"Hmpf. How long do you think he'll need to get here?"

**"About 3 minutes tops."**

"That's not much time... Anyway, I'll go and wait for him outside." The older version of the sleeping blonde with whisker marks made his way to the gate to the cage. Kyuubi watched him walking. Then the information sank in.

**"Outside? Whaddya mean, outsi-"** Kyuubi didn't finish that sentence, but rushed to the gate himself. And to his shock and awe, Minato was looking at him from the other side of the gate.

"Awesome I'm outside." Minato stated the obvious.

**"But how?"** The great demon lord was confused.

"My theory is-"

**"Oh great, another one of your great theories. But do go on."**

"Sigh. The term 'demon' really suits you. My theory is that my presence is or wasn't classified as a demonic threat by the seal. Now that I think about, I think that I have created a seal with a mind of its own. If it's able to distinguish between evil and good, keep me somewhere in between mind scape and somewhere else and only lets our chakra and knowledge pass through to Naruto, then I would call it a smart seal. What do you think?"

**"I think that what you just said is equivalent to a mouthfu-"**

"Shut it and hide, he's coming." Minato ordered. The demon sighed and moved to the back of the cage. Here he couldn't be seen, but could observe the events unfold. He quickly concentrated and a bowl of popcorn appeared beside him. _**'Mh... Popcorn.'**_

Naruto found himself walking down the sewer like corridor again, with the water reaching his ankles. Exactly like last night. _'This dream again? Man, I'm really getting bored of this. I'm just gonna go and walk down this dark corridor and then wake up.'_

So he simply kept on walking and walking. He could already see the light at the end of the hallway. He reached the light and stopped. Something felt different this time. _'Normally feel that I am being sucked out of this place. Not today... Maybe I can see that room now.'_

The 11 year old boy almost walked in, but a voice made him stop dead in his tracks.

"Come on in, Naruto! No need to be shy." It was _the _voice. The voice that had helped him with his training, the voice that gave him words of advice and the voice that told him the name of that totally awesome jutsu. The voice had a magical effect on Naruto. It made him feel... safe. Naruto had never really felt safe before. When he walked through Konoha, he had always prepared himself for onslaughts lead by villagers. When he stood in his kitchen, he always kept an eye on the window in case a stone came flying through, like so often before. And when he ate ramen at Ichiraku's, he always kept an eye on his chopsticks in case that someone used a jutsu and made them transform into deadly senbon needles that would pierce through his heart. He shuddered at that thought. He couldn't imagine a death worse than dying while eating delicious pork ramen.

His body moved on its own. When he entered the room, he quickly brought up his arms to cover his blinking eyes from the light. The arms lowered when his eyes had adjusted to the new surroundings.

He took a full minute to scan his surroundings, but he didn't see a person who the voice could belong to.

_'Huh? What's this?' _Naruto thought to himself as he saw the cage gate.

"Uh... Where the hell am I?"

"Inside your mind scape, Naruto."

"Dattebayo, it's you! But where are you? You said you'd show yourself later! That was your part of the deal, and now would be a good time to keep the promise."

"Behind you."

The young Namikaze turned 180 degrees and starred at the person in front of him. If he had put any thought into it, he could have seen the resemblance to himself. But he was busy examining the person. The person was dressed in a black shirt with a Jonin vest covering it. His legs were covered in the standard black Jonin pants, with a red kunai and shuriken holster strapped to his right leg. But most importantly was the robe he was wearing. It had short sleeves and reached a bit bellow the owners knees. Red and orange flames were stitched on the very bottom of the robe and on the hem of its sleeves. Black sandals covered his feet.

Naruto's gaze moved from the robe, which he thought looked totally amazing and kick-ass, to the man's face. Naruto wasn't a specialist in this area of knowledge, but he could tell that a girl would squeal at the look of his face. It was very handsome and had some clear defined features. More importantly, the man's eyes were as blue as Naruto's own. So was the hair. It was longer than Naruto's, but it was the same type of blonde. It was the exact opposite of what a person would call a neat hair cut. First, you couldn't call it a '(hair-)cut' anymore. Minato had never cut his hair. Second, it wasn't neatly done or something. It was completely messy, unruly and, more than anything, spiky, it pointed to all possible directions. His mouth resembled a toothy grin.

"Are you the person who helped me back then?"

"Yeah, that was me." Minato had expected a different reaction. Apparently, Naruto hadn't noticed that they were inside his mind scape and that Minato looked like him, only 15 years older.

"Thanks for finally showing yourself! I thought I'd never get to see you, so I can thank you! If it hadn't been for that advice, I don't think that I'd ever found out how to use the Bushin! By the way, what is your name?"

"I'm Namikaze Minato, former fourth Hokage of Konohagakure, and the one of the people sealed inside you."

Naruto completely missed the part of being former Hokage and a person sealed inside him.

"Nice to meet you, Minato-san! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I'll be the next Hokage so that everyone will respect me... wait... did you just say..."

The bell was finally struck. Naruto's eyes widened. His mouth opened a little. After a minute or so, he managed to say something.

"F-former f-f-fourt-th h-hokage?"

"Yes."

"I must be... dreaming...."

"Believe me Naruto, this is all real."

"B-but.... how? The fourth was killed when he defeated Kyuubi..."

"That is not completely true... I died when I _sealed _the demon."

Naruto had a puzzled expression on his face. "When you _sealed _the demon? And if you died, then where are we right now?"

"We are currently in a part of your mind. We call this part 'mind scape'."

"Mind scape...MY mind scape...? Then what are you doing here?"

"To explain the long story in one sentence, something went wrong when I sealed the demon, and apparently I also sealed myself into you."

Naruto did not reply. His brain was processing a lot of things now. After five minutes, Minato spoke again.

"Naruto, haven't you noticed yet?" There was a bit of sadness in Minato's voice. His own son didn't recognize his father. But could he blame him? Probably not. After all, Naruto had only seen him in pictures of history texts.

"What do you mean. Sorry... But all if this is kind of hard to believe, y'know? I mean, I just realized that I am standing in front of the fourth Hokage, who is supposedly sealed inside me. Nobody will ever believe me."

"Do me a favor, ok Naruto? Think you can push all that aside for a few moments?"

He received a nod in return.

"OK. Forget about me being the fourth Hokage, understand? Just push that out of your mind now. I know it's hard, but you have to."

After a few moments, he received another nod.

"Good. Now look closely at me. Especially me hair and my eyes. Do you notice something?"

Minato had to wait another few seconds. Naruto shook his head and finally spoke.

"Uhh... You look somehow familiar. Like reaaaaally familiar. But I just can't put a finger on it. Something inside tells me that there is something about you that I have been looking for all life. Something I always wanted... No, more like _someone. _But I just can't lay a finger on it... sorry. Maybe it would help if you gave me another clue."

The older blonde nodded, and a mirror appeared next to himself.

"OK Naruto, what I want you to do now, is to look at me and then at your reflection in the mirror. Compare the two, ok? I'm sure you'll understand afterwards."

Naruto did as he was told to. He kept on comparing his reflection with the man standing next to the mirror. He focused on the hair and eyes, as he felt that the answer to the fateful question was located in the eyes and hair. After a good minute of intense comparing, his brain realized what Minato was getting at. Finally, his brain came up with the only possible solution and went into standby mode as Naruto's emotion caught up with his realization. The emotions were strong enough to make the brain override the standby mode and went into complete shutdown.

All the stuff about the person being Hokage was washed away by the emotions. Naruto saw only one person in front of him. The person he was so desperate to know about. The person he had needed all those 11 years, and the person he searched and longed for all these long 11 years.

**His dad.**

Naruto's body acted so fast, Kyuubi had trouble following Naruto.

He jumped into the other person's arms, hugging him tightly. Tears of joy and happiness rolled down his cheeks. Minato returned the embrace and rested his own head on Naruto's, tears also rolling down his own face.

"Dad... dad..." Was all Naruto managed to say though his sobs. Not all the tears he cried weren't happiness. The pain and sadness of 11 hard years came rushing down his face in the form of tears.

"Shh... Naruto.... Shhh... It's ok, son.... It's ok. I'm here with you and I'll never leave again... I promise.... Shhh.... Everything is gonna be alright..." Said Minato as he rocked his son back and forth while running one of his hands through Naruto's hair.

Kyuubi was deeply touched by the scene outside his cage. Demons weren't famous for showing emotion. Maybe it was because that only the 'good' part of his soul was sealed along with his body and chakra.

After what seemed like years, both blonds had somewhat calmed down.

"You... you really are my dad... And just as I... was about to give up on the thought that I had any living family left... If waited all my life... All my life for somebody to take care of me... to be there for me... and to love me like family does..."

"I'm sorry, my son. I was inside you all the time... But I wasn't exactly here in this place. I was somewhere between the seal on your belly and this place here. But your mind wasn't strong enough to hold all three of us... at the same time. I arrived here this morning. Remember when you had that really strong headache for a few seconds? That was when I got pulled inside here."

"Dad... Did you say 'all three of us'? There is someone else in here?" Naruto asked as his face expression turned into a confused one. Minato had to laugh a little when he saw funny look his son's face had. His eyes were red and wet from crying and you could see a faint trail where the tears had rolled down. Mix that with a really confused expression and you got the look Naruto currently had. Minato looked down at his son and decided to explain.

"Yes, there are three people in here. Me, you and the reason why I'm here in the first place. Remember how I said that I died from sealing the demon attacking the village?"

"Demon... Wait, are you saying that you sealed the Nine-Tailed Fox into ME?" Exclaimed the younger blonde.

A sad expression took place on his dad's face. "Yes... And before you say anything, please let me apologize to you, son. If there'd been any other way, I would have gladly taken it, no matter what toll it would have on me. But there was no other way. Kyuubi could only be defeated by letting a part of his soul being eaten by the Death God and then sealing him into a newborn. I couldn't have sealed him into an object, like a mountain. The amount of chakra was so great, that the mountain would have exploded and he would have been free again. I thought about sealing him into myself, but that was impossible. Fully grown chakra paths and coils would have repelled the foreign chakra, killing the person while doing so, not harming Kyuubi in any way. So the only option was to seal it into a newborn whose chakra coils hadn't developed yet. By accepting the title Hokage, you dedicate yourself to the village, willing to protect it with your life. That's why I could seal Kyuubi inside you only. I couldn't ask anyone to sacrifice their child for the cause. Your mother said that you'd understand when you were told about it. I hope you can ever forgive me." Said the former Hokage, tears forming in his eyes again. He was afraid that his son would now repel him and hate him.

But Naruto couldn't hate his father. He put his hands on his father's hands and locked his blue orbs with his.

"Dad... I forgive you. I know that I am not the smartest, but I think that it was the right thing to do. It was only thing you could've done! That is why I also want to be Hokage one day! So I can protect the people important to me with everything I have. Everyone thinks that you were the greatest leader of all time. If anyone doubted you during your time as Hokage, all these doubts were blown away when you gave your own life to seal away the demon."

Minato looked up to his son in surprise. He had expected insults and other hateful things. Not words of forgiveness and understanding.

"Naruto.... you have no idea how much your forgiveness means to me..."

"Hah, it's cool. Where is Kyuubi? Is he really a bad demon who wants to go running riot?"

"Nah, he's a pretty cool guy once you get to know him."

"Really? I find that hard to believe, dad! Almost as hard to believe that I finally have a father who happens to be the greatest Hokage of all time!"

**"Did I hear somebody say my name?"** Kyuubi stood behind the gate. Naruto starred in shock as he saw the rather large fox suddenly standing there. After a second he regained his composure and didn't feel intimidated. Standing next to his father was giving him confidence. He felt as if he could take on the whole world right now.

"You're the Kyuubi? You don't look that tough to me. You rather look like an over sized fox with more than one tail sticking out his ass..."

The Fox let out a growl and replied in a deep voice. "Brat, if I weren't stuck in here, I'd rip you to shreds, heal you and then rip you apart again, for the rest of eternity!"

Naruto let out a laugh. Soon, his laughter was echoing in the mind scape. "I can see, Mr. Plush Fox that we two are going to have a wonderful relationship."

Kyuubi starred at him with wide red eyes and vibrating tails.

**"Deja Vu!"** The large fox exclaimed as he sat on the ground. Minato laughed at the verbal exchange, and then decided to end the discussion.

"You guys can settle this later when Naruto gets home. You should return to your conscious state now, son. Somebody is trying to wake you up."

"Dad, before I go, quickly tell me something. Can I talk to you while I'm conscious? It would really suck if I had to come here every time I wanted to talk to you guys."

**"You can talk to us while your awake, brat. It's simple, even you should be able to comprehend. Simply 'think' what you want to say. It's like having a mental conversation. Nobody but the three of us can hear."**

"OK, understood, Mr. Plush Fox! Another really quick thing. Dad, will you train me? Like teach me how to do these jutsus I used in my fight against Kiba? I assume you that you two made me perform them by letting my brain know what to do or something."

"Oh, we sure will train you, son! And when Kyuubi and I here done creating a training plan for you, we'll make you strong enough easily beat Ero-sennin and Tsunade-hime!"

"Who?"

"Oh... Err... You'll find out soon enough. But for now, go and wake up... If you don't understand something you learn in school, ask us right away. We'll be always here for you, Naruto."

When Minato finished he hugged Naruto tightly and then shoved him towards the corridor he came from.

"Thanks dad! Bye, catch you two when I wake up!"

And with that, he faded away.

**A/N:**

**So, this is chapter two. This really had been my first fighting scene. Review.**

**Uhm, another thing. I KNOW THAT NARUTO IS OVERPOWERED. And he will be getting stronger and stronger. Some may consider him over powered because he will learn powerful moves at a young age. But instead of making a 'super strong' Naruto who wins every battle, I'll also make his opponents a lot stronger, so it cancels each other out. **

**Stronger Naruto = Stronger Enemies = Stronger Friends**


	4. A tiny Confrontation

Chapter 3: A small confrontation.

--

Back in the real world, Sasuke was standing next to Naruto, lightly kicking him. Class had commenced 10 minutes ago, and after Kakashi realized that the blonde was absent, he sent Sasuke to search the area where lunch had been held. Sasuke searched for a while, and then his trained ears heard quiet snoring. Quickly finding the location, Sasuke attempted to wake Naruto. He tried talking to him, which didn't work. Tapping Naruto on the arm was also a fruitless exercise, same with poking him in the stomach. So Sasuke decided to simply stand next to him and kick him until he woke up. It couldn't take too long for a person to wake up from constantly being kicked in side, could it?

After a few minutes, Naruto started to move. Sasuke sighed in relief and intensified his kicking. After another minute, Naruto's hand shot up and grabbed Sasuke's foot. He released the foot when his eyes opened and realized just who the person kicking him was. The blonde kid jumped to his feet, feeling extremely energized. As if he had slept for a whole day.

"Hi Sasuke. What's up?"

"Class commenced 10 minutes ago, so Kakashi sent me to find you. I found you sleeping behind a tree so I started kicking you until a few moments ago. That's what's up."

"Oh. Thanks, I guess."

"Did you at least have a nice dream?" It was unlike Sasuke to ask more than what was necessary. Naruto shrugged it off, deciding that Sasuke seemed to open up a little. Maybe he'd been too lonely.

"Yup, I had the best dream of my life!"

"What was it about?"

Naruto didn't know what to say.

"... I'll tell you if you promise to not tell anyone, ok?"

"Fine."

"I dreamed about my father." Naruto simply said.

They were walking through the hallway to their class room by now.

_'About his father? But he is an orphan, isn't he? Or were his parents killed? Is he just like me... Hn.'_

Kakashi stopped his lecture on weapons when the two entered.

"Here he is sensei. I found him sleeping behind a tree in the lunch area. Took me some kicking to wake him up." Sasuke reported as if he was reporting to the Hokage after a mission. Naruto smiled sheepishly when Sasuke gave his report. Normally, almost everyone would start laughing at him because of something like that. But his fight with Kiba had gained him enough respect to make people think twice before laughing at him at every chance they had.

Speaking of Kiba, he came back half way through lunch time. He was fully functional and healthy, only had a few bruises here and there. The medics had used some medical ninjutsu to fix his cracked ribs. The dog boy had a mixed expression on his face; it was a mixture of anger and annoyance. Anger because he got defeated by Naruto and annoyance because people laughed at him and gave him some 'funny looks'. _'Damn it! They won't stop laughing at me! And they won't stop until I defeat Naruto and pay him back. Grrr... Guess I'll just have to fight him again. But I have to make sure that everyone sees it so they can see that I'm the best!'_

Naruto and Sasuke walked back to their original seats. Naruto gave Hinata a smile when he sat down beside her.

"Now class, back to the lesson on weapons. This is the last period today, so make sure to work hard. We've reviewed the basics that you've learned through the year. Iruka advised me to tell you a bit about some famous weapons used by famous ninja. If you know a famous weapon, raise your hand and I'll call your name so we can write all the names on the black board."

Sakura raised her hand, Kakashi nodded towards her.

"The sword of Lightning, sensei. It was used by the second Hokage."

"Very good Sakura." After Kakashi wrote down the name and user, more and more people started to raise their hands and name the weapon and it's user. Kakashi would correct mistakes and then write the information on the black board. After a while, no hands were raised anymore.

"Any more weapons, class? I still know quite a few. Let me give you a hint for the probably the most famous weapon. It is a pretty simple weapon."

Naruto raised his hand.

"Yes Naruto?"

"Can I name two weapons, sensei?"

"Go ahead."

"Well, the first one would be the White Chakra Blade used by Konoha's White Fang." Kakashi's visible eye widened slightly at that one. _'He doesn't only know about father's nickname, he also knows of the weapon he used. Then he almost revealed an S-Class village secret about Uchiha Madara and his involvement in the founding of Konoha. Just where does he get this information??'_

"And the second weapon is the one you say is the most famous weapon. It is a special Kunai. But instead of having one, it has three blades. It was the three-pronged Kunai the Fourth Hokage used. He used them to perform his famous Flying Thunder God jutsu. There were special seals written on a piece of paper which was wrapped around the handle. He could teleport himself to any of the Kunai with such a paper wrapped around the handle. The battle was always over once he started to use them. That is how he defeated an entire army during the war with Kumo. And I also think that he used them because it seems easier to block incoming blades with the three-pronged shape."

Seconds passed, and then Kakashi nodded, and wrote 'three bladed kunai' and 'Yondaime Hokage' on the black board. Sakura spoke up.

"Now that Naruto mentions it, I've seen the Hokage wielding such a kunai in a picture. Aren't there any ones to exhibit in the village museum?"

Hatake Kakashi thought for a minute. "Yes, you can look at the famous kunai set which the Fourth used in the war. And like Naruto said, he wiped out an entire army with them.

Several "Ooh"s and "Aaah"s could be heard among the attending students.

"If you want to, I could arrange that we go to the museum on Monday. Iruka-san won't be back until Tuesday, so I'm sure he won't mind."

This earned him a lot of cheers. Skipping out on school because of a museum visit was good, but looking at famous weapons was even better.

"Yay, you're the best Kakashi-sensei!" Our favourite hero yelled. Kakashi's visible eye formed the 'eye-smile' and Naruto would bet his ramen that he could see Kakashi's mouth forming a smile under his mask.

"OK, we'll meet here at the academy on Monday, just like every day. Make sure to bring lunch, a pen and a book to write in."

After a collective nod, Kakashi dismissed the class and students started to stream out of the class room to get home. Sasuke got up and slowly walked towards the door. Naruto got up and looked at Hinata.

"Hey, Hinata-chan! Let's go and grab some lunch and then hang out somewhere, 'kay?"

"Yes, Naruto-kun."

During their class on weapons, Hinata had enough time to concentrate on working out the previous events. She now knew that Naruto had fought in order to defend her honour, and she realized that he hadn't called her Hinata_-chan_ on mistake. But most importantly was, that he had called her his friend on several occasions.

She also got up and walked beside her new source of strength. Being around Naruto made her feel good. She didn't realize, but she didn't stutter because he was around.

Naruto quickened his pace and caught up with a raven haired boy.

"Hey, Sasuke."

Sasuke turned to his left when he heard Naruto call his name.

"What's up Naruto?"

"Uhm, I just want to thank you for letting me take the fight against Kiba and for waking me up when I was sleeping. You're still an emo ass though, teme."

"To tell you the truth, I don't think that Shino, Shikamaru or me could have humiliated Kiba to that extent, so I think we're all glad that you took him on. And you're still the idiot that's wearing orange, baka."

Speak of the devil. Shikamaru and Shino appeared next to the trio.

"Yeah, and it would have been too troublesome. It would have been funny if I made him dance with my Kagemane jutsu, or if Shino's bugs ate him. Sasuke could have also burned him with a fire technique. By the way, how did you know any of the jutsu you used?"

"That too would be within my range of interest." Shino added, temporarily taking his attention away from his buggy friends.

Naruto's mind worked as hard as possible. He had to come up with a good excuse, and fast. But to his surprise, Sasuke backed him up. The Uchiha had been acting really weird lately.

"Well, I can explain how he was able to perform the fire technique."

Shino and Shikamaru turned to Sasuke, Shino's eyebrows slightly visible over his black glasses.

"When he saw me perform that jutsu on the first day, he followed me after school and begged me for 4 hours straight to show him how to do it. When four hours passed, I became really annoyed. Not even my retarded fan club follows me for four hours in a row," Sasuke recalled and shook his head when he mentioned his fan club, "So I agreed to show him the hand seals and explain him how to perform the jutsu. After an hour or so, he was able to quickly perform the hand seals and produce a small fireball. I guess he trained really hard since then." Sasuke lied fluently.

Shino and Shikamaru nodded, and Naruto quickly took the opportunity to excuse himself and Hinata.

"Well, see you later guys! I'll tell you about the other jutsu on Monday, ok? Hinata-chan and I will go and eat some ramen."

"Troublesome... See you on Monday." With that, the shadow user left the group and moved towards his home.

"Until Monday." Shino disappeared in a cloud of bugs.

Naruto sighed in relief when the two left. He smiled at Sasuke, being very thankful for the help.

"Dobe, you owe me."

"Yeah I know teme. But still, thanks a lot. I didn't think that I could have come up with a good excuse."

"Well, you can make up for it by telling _me _how you were able to do these jutsu."

Naruto saw that he had little to no other option. He saw Hinata who also showed a fair amount of interest.

_"Dad, Kyuubi-baka, a little help would be nice. How much can I tell them?"_

**"Uh... That's not my problem. This is human matter. Where I'm from, I would kill the person who asked these questions. You don't ask questions that personal in the demon world."**

Minato sweat dropped.

"I'm not sure. There is no way out of this. It'll be suspicious when you come up with a stupid excuse, and they will just keep on asking until they find out the truth. You don't have to tell them everything. But enough so that they understand."

_"Are you saying that I should tell them about the FOX??"_

"...Yes."

"**Hey, you make it sound like me being here is a bad thing."**

"_MAYBE BECAUSE IT IS A BAD THING, PLUSH MONSTER!" _Naruto screamed mentally.

"**True. Am I supposed to feel offended now? 'Cuz I ain't."**

"Calm down you two. Sheesh, all you two ever do is throwing insults at each other."

"_Dad, we've know each other for barley two hours now. What else are we supposed to do?"_

"Anyway, that still doesn't solve your problem."

"_... I don't want to tell them, dad. I am afraid. I don't want them to be like the villagers."_

"Well, if there is anyone who accepts you the way you are, then it's that Hinata girl. I know that you've only considered her as a friend for half a day up until now. This will test if she truly accepts you, son. If she doesn't then she doesn't have the right to be called a true friend."

Naruto sighed mentally. He knew that his father's words spoke the truth. If she couldn't accept him now for the way he was, then she could never truly accept him.

The sudden change of expression on Naruto's face didn't go unnoticed by Hinata and Sasuke. After they waited, Naruto spoke to them in a serious voice, with a bit of a solemn and sad undertone.

"OK, you win Sasuke. I will tell you the truth. Both of you. But not here and not today... Somewhere private. Meet me here tomorrow."

Hinata didn't trust her voice, so she simply nodded. Sasuke looked puzzled. A very uncommon expression for an Uchiha.

Without another word, Naruto took Hinata's hand and led her to Ichiraku's.

--

The next day, Friday, after school, Sasuke and Hinata waited for Naruto. His face expression was unreadable for once. He nodded in greeting and turned around.

Naruto started to run towards the woods, Sasuke and Hinata following suit.

Five minutes passed and Naruto stopped on a clearing. Hinata recognized the area as the clearing were Naruto would always train by himself. Sasuke didn't know where Naruto had led them, but he knew that they were pretty deep into the forest.

"Please... Sit down." Said Naruto as he gestured towards a few upright standing logs which he used to practice the replacement jutsu.

Both dark haired students sat down on a log.

Their hyperactive blue eyed class mate took a deep breath and started to tell them his story.

"OK, first... Whatever you think of me after I 'm done telling you this, you cannot tell anyone what I said. Because this is the village's darkest secret, and there is law regarding this special secret. Whoever dares to break it is sentenced to immediate death. Still want to hear about it?"

Both black haired students nodded. Their faces showed one obvious emotion. They were confused and surprised. What could be secret enough to kill the person who leaked the information?

"The only ones who are allowed to break that law are the third Hokage and I. Do you remember what happened on the 10th of October, 11 years ago?" Naruto didn't even wait for a response, "I'm sure you two know. The Kyuubi attacked the village, and the Hokage killed him, dying in the process. At least that is what they teach you in the academy. But the truth is different. The Nine-Tailed Fox was invincible. Nothing could possibly kill it. So the Hokage thought about it and found the only possible solution. They had to seal the Fox away. He first thought that a mountain would be appropriate, but a mountain wouldn't be able to hold such a pure amount of chakra. It would simply explode and the Kyuubi would be free again. The idea of sealing it into a human had a higher rate of success, but wasn't accepted as an option, because an adult had developed chakra coils, which would refuse the foreign chakra and kill the human in the process. This left one option only. To seal the Kyuubi into a human whose chakra coils hadn't developed yet. Into a newborn," Naruto now starred at his feet, "the Hokage's son... I don't know if you knew, but my birthday... it's on the 10th of October."

Naruto wasn't sure if this was a good idea. Kyuubi, his father and himself argued for the better part of the night, resulting with Minato being able to convince him that earlier is better.

Hinata's hand shot up to cover her gasping mouth as realization struck her. Sasuke's eyes had widened a lot, and you could see his body shaking a bit. Both their minds were filled with thoughts. After what seemed like eternity, Sasuke got up and walked to Naruto. The pair of blue eyes slowly rose and locked with a pair of onyx ones.

Sasuke spoke up, his voice a bit weak.

"You...," Naruto expected the worst, "have given me a lot to think about. See you... later." And with that, Sasuke disappeared back into the woods. But in reality, his fears were focused on the upcoming. Hinata's reaction.

His gaze wandered back to his feet, as worked out the worse case scenarios in his mind. _'What if she... becomes afraid of me... and starts to hate me... and make fun of me... like everyone else does...'_

After a few agonizing minutes, the blond decided to break the silence.

"Aren't you gonna.... leave.... Hinata-chan?"

To his utter surprise, the answer came from right next to him.

"Why should I, Naruto-kun?"

He had expected hateful words, not this. The thing upon his throat, which he dared to call a head, turned to the source of the words. Hinata was sitting beside him, as if they were sitting in the academy again.

"You aren't afraid... of... me? Don't you see me as a demon like everyone else does?"

"Why should I be afraid of something which is tightly locked away into the person who keeps the village safe every night and day by carrying this burden? I've watched you for a long time, and I've never seen a demon anywhere. Only a kind hearted boy, with whisker marks in his face, which was always confident and strong and would keep on trying until he succeeded. And a demon wouldn't fight that hard to defend a friends honour!"

"So you aren't going to hate me and throw insults at me?"

"Of course I won't! Naruto-kun... you are my first friend in my whole life... who doesn't see a weak Hyuuga in me." Tears started to form in both their eyes. Naruto's were of relief, and Hinata's were of joy.

Tears of joy.

The shy heiress didn't have much time to react as the blond boy turned and hugged her closely. Not that she felt uncomfortable or something, it was just unexpected. The heat of Naruto's body came washing over her, making her face invent a new color: ultra deep crimson. Take the colour of a Sharingan eye, and multiply the redness by 10 and you would get close to Hinata's colour.

"Hinata-chan... You don't know... How much this means to me... I could kiss you but that'd be awkward...," Her blush turned a few shades deeper, and a slight blush made its way onto Naruto's face, "but you are also.... my first friend... who accepts me as the person I am... and not the demon inside me." Said Naruto as his tears were starting to dry out. He let go of Hinata and looked her into her lavender coloured eyes.

"Thank you." Naruto said sincerely and wiped a tear away from her face with his hand. "By the way, Kyuubi says that you should 'cool down' a bit, otherwise you would faint from having too much blood in your head. Even if I don't quite understand what he means."

Her lavender eyes grew large when she heard him say that the Fox had said something.

"You can talk to the fox, Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah, I can. He's a pretty cool guy once you get to know him. Even if he can be a sarcastic bitch sometimes." He said, describing the fox, having a grin on his face.

"That is amazing, Naruto-kun!"

"You think so? Well, I am starving. Time for some ramen, dattebayo! Let's go, Hinata-chan!" And with that, the two of them head off to the general direction of Konoha.

After countless bowls of ramen, Hinata and Naruto went for a walk in a park near the Hyuuga compound. When the sunset came, Hinata announced that she would have to go home. They decided to meet at Ichiraku's on Sunday. When Hinata had left, Naruto made his way to his own apartment. His grin constantly visible as he whistled a random tune.

When he entered his apartment and made his way to this kitchen, a familiar voice spoke from behind him.

"I was wondering if you'd ever come home."

Naruto did a 180 spin and found himself looking at a pair of onyx eyes.

"Sasuke? How did you get in here?"

"Never heard of locking your door?"

"Yeah, I always forget that! But you aren't here to talk about my apartment door, are you?"

"No, I'm here to talk about the demon inside you."

Naruto wanted to say something but Sasuke simply continued.

"I don't care what the Hokage sealed inside you. I really don't. As long as you don't go on a rampage killing everything, it's fine with me."

"Do you... really think like that?"

"No, I come here in my free time to lie to you. Of course I think that way, baka!"

"Thanks... Sasuke... TEME!"

"Hn. But there is more to it... isn't there? Having a demon sealed inside you doesn't explain how you were able to perform these jutsus."

"Sigh... And I was starting to hope that you and Hinata wouldn't notice," Naruto said as he sat down on a chair in his kitchen. "and to answer your question... Yeah, there is more to it."

Sasuke's eyes wandered to the clock hanging on the wall.

"Well, then tell me and Hinata on Monday. I got to go."

"Go where?"

"Going to hide. Fan club." And with those final words, Sasuke exited the apartment through the window.

Naruto smiled when he heard a loud collective mass squeal coming from the group of girls which had obviously seen Sasuke run away.

Naruto lazily walked into his kitchen and pulled out a water boiler from a cupboard. He sat down and starred at the water boiler. Three more minutes and he would have some ramen. Three more agonizing long minutes.

_'God, I hate the three minutes the water needs to boil.'_

"I feel for you. It was worse back when I was alive; it took 10 minutes until the water started boiling." His father said inside his mind while carrying an expression of pain as he remembered the time he had always had to wait for his favourite food to be finished.

"**Human's sure are stupid."** Stated a fox from behind his cage. He made it sound so obvious; he could have also said that Hyuuga's knew no humour.

"_Foxes sure are ugly and hairy." _Was Naruto's answer to Kyuubi's statement. Ignoring the comment, he continued.

"**I am saying that because neither of you have ever considered using or creating a jutsu which would make water go into an instant boiling state. What I am trying to say is, that you ninja can seal demons, summon large animals, spit fire, teleport, blow everything up and even can transform your hair into a shield with spikes, but cannot make a water boil at an instant."**

A few moments of silence passed between the three.

"Well, he has a point there."

"_Yeah, but how do I make the water boil immediately?"_

"**And you humans sure aren't the cleverest species. At least not two certain blonds."**

"_Are you saying that dad and I are dumb?"_

**No, no... I would never say that. But I'll explain it like this. This slice of bread," **a slice of bread poofed into existence,** "would be able to comprehend how to make the water boil."**

For once, Naruto decided not to counter Kyuubi's insult with another insult. Asking how to perform such a jutsu would make him get his answer faster.

"_Well, now that the slice of bread understands, why don't you explain it to me?"_

"**Oho? Starting to be productive? Fine, I'll tell you. It is really simple, you can make the water boil by releasing a large amount of hot chakra into the water."**

"_So all I have to do is push a large amount of fire chakra into the water."_

"**Not fire chakra. That is elemental chakra and I don't think that your chakra has fire traits, unlike the Uchiha's. You need **_**hot **_**or **_**warm **_**chakra."**

"_And how do I make 'hot' chakra?"_

"**Euh... just think of something 'hot'. Like that Hinata girl talking of her cloth in front of you and-?" **Minato interrupted Kyuubi by stepping on one of his tails, before he could describe more 'impure' scenes involving a girl. But it had triggered the desired effect. Naruto's face was flushed with blood, blushing madly. He could feel his blood boil.

"**Ok, now that you're all 'warmed up'," **The fox snickered at his little joke, **"grab a pot full of water and push chakra into your hands and release it all at once into the water."**

_'How much chakra do I need?"_

"**I'd say as much as you need in order to perform a decent looking clone."**

So Naruto did what he was told. He quickly filled a pot used for cooking with water. When the water reached the top of the pot, he quickly lifted the heavy pot onto his kitchen counter. Naruto brought up his hands together and formed the seal for tiger. When he felt that he had poured enough chakra into his hands, he let them touch the sides of the pot and released all the chakra at once. Bubbles started to appear on the waters surface and steam rose from the pot, the moment his chakra fused with the water.

"Dattebayo! It worked!" Naruto cheered as he danced around in his kitchen.

"Nice work, Naruto."

"**What he said."**

"Awesome! Thanks dad, Plushie." Naruto said out loud.

After a few bowls of ramen, Naruto decided to go to sleep. After brushing his teeth and stripping down to his boxers and putting on his nightcap, the young boy fell asleep the moment his head touched the pillow. A lot has happened that day.

The next morning, which was a Sunday morning, started at 7 o'clock in the morning. Normally Naruto would sleep until noon, but not this Saturday. Two voices were rioting in his mind, wanting to wake him from his deep slumber.

Naruto's eyes slowly opened. He sat up and rubbed his eyes with his hands.

"Huh? Why am I up so early?"

"Because we woke you."

"Huh? Who are yo- OH. So I wasn't dreaming. That all happened yesterday, didn't it?"

"**Smart kiddo. Get a cookie." **Kyuubi said, with his special 'I'm a fox and you're not' grin.

"_And the fox is still a butthead (← most violent insult ever)."_

"Now get changed, we got a lot of training to do today! A future Hokage needs to be in top shape!"

You didn't have to tell Naruto twice. If somebody would have watched him, all they would have seen was a Yellow Flash. After his daily routine, he made his way to the clearing in the woods where he had confronted Sasuke and Hinata.

"_LET'S DO THIS! What do we do first? Are you gonna teach me a jutsu? Please! A jutsu! The Rasengan! Please, I SOOO wanna learn it!"_

"I won't teach you the Rasengan..."

"_WHAT!?"_

"Let me finish. I won't teach you the Rasengan, YET."

"_Why not?"_

"Because you don't have the correct amount of chakra control yet, son."

It was night time when Naruto finished his daily training session. His pure will power dragged him to Ichiraku's ramen stand, where he sat on his favourite stool.

"Hey Old Man! A large bowl of beef ramen, please! I've been waiting all day for this."

"What have you been doing, Naruto?" Ayame asked, the daughter of Teuchi who owned the shop.

"Training, so that I can become Hokage! Believe it!"

Naruto was thinking about what he'd learned that day. He had spent the first few hours doing the tree climbing exercise, which he found very challenging at the beginning. After a few attempts, he started to get the hang of it and after another few tries; he managed to finally reach the top without leaving a single scratch on the tree bark.

After that, his two 'teachers', made him do the water walking exercise. Minato thought that he would fail miserably at that form of training, but he was able to do it even quicker than the tree climbing. Minato thought that Naruto's chakra would fight against Kyuubi's, leaving Naruto's chakra system at imbalance. But it was the exact opposite. Naruto's chakra seemed to accept and fuse with Kyuubi's leaked chakra, making it easy for Naruto to complete the task. After a short break, Naruto asked Minato if he could teach him some jutsu now. But Minato refused again, saying that most of his jutsu require a lot of control, but even more chakra. Naruto already had enough chakra to perform Rasengans all day, but his control wasn't at the right level yet.

After a few minutes of pouting, Naruto agreed to continue improving his control. The next task was to do the tree climbing, but instead of walking on his feet, he had to walk on his hands. While doing so, Kyuubi noticed that Naruto seemed to have better control of chakra in his hand than anywhere else in his body, which wasn't really surprising.

Kyuubi and Minato wanted to make Naruto go and call it a day, but the stubborn blond refused. After 10 minutes of a heated mental debate, which resulted in Kyuubi and the former Yellow Flash having major headaches and Naruto having a really big smile on his mouth.

The two made him do all the exercises over and over again, until he could stand on water and climb the tree without thinking. They literally trained it into his instinct. All the way until midnight.

**A/N:**

Review. Now.


	5. Museum!

Chapter 4: Museum.

Naruto woke up at 8 a.m. He could still feel the pain in his limbs from his torture training session with Kyuubi and Minato. But pain wouldn't stop him from training today again.

"I'll train and make Ol' Gramps retire so I can be Hokage! Then I'll get as much ramen as I want!"

Dressed in only his boxers and nightcap, he made his way to his kitchen. _'Time to use my new jutsu!'_

"**Secret Ninja Art! Super jutsu! Instant Ramen heating!"**

Kyuubi was rolling on his cage floor, laughing his head off. It looked as if a massive orange fur ball was trying to imitate an avalanche. Minato smiled at his fellow prisoner.

"That is an interesting name. I like it!" Minato said as he started to eat his own bowl of ramen.

When Naruto finished his morning routine, he made his way to the training grounds, to spend the better part of his Sunday training and learning new jutsu.

"_Yo! We arrived at my clearing! What do we do today?"_

"Well, the fox and I had a talk, and we came to the conclusion that we also need to work on your speed."

"_Speed?"_

"Yeah. Almost all of my moves are speed-based. How are you going to hit an enemy with a Rasengan if you aren't fast enough? He would see the Rasengan and would have enough time to react or evade."

"_Oh, I get it! Then how are we going to improve my speed?"_

"**Well brat, there are several ways. We could make you run countless laps around the village. We could make you train under water. Training under water is one of the most effective techniques, but you don't know how to breathe under water."**

"_Breathe under water? You can do that? Can you teach me?"_

"Being able to breathe under water is pretty difficult. You need to take in the water and then filter out the oxygen. This jutsu requires good-"

"_Good chakra control, I know. So, how will we improve my speed for now?"_

"We'll do it the same way I did when I started to improve my speed. I used special chakra weights. My sensei, Ero-sennin, made them for me. They are rather small, and you can attach them to any part of your body. When you attach them, you channel chakra into them, the amount of chakra then controls how heavy the weights are."

"_Sounds cool. Where can I get weights like that?"_

"Weights like that are special and can't be bought in normal stores. Only people which advanced sealing skills and techniques can create them. I remember that I gave my weights to my sensei's sensei. If you payed him a visit, he might give them to you."

"_Your sensei's sensei? Who is he?"_

"He is the old man running this village. The third Hokage."

"_Whaaaat? Your sensei was a student of the old man?"_

"Yeah. My sensei is just as famous as myself. Almost every shinobi knows my sensei. He is one of Konoha's living legends, and feared in all other hidden villages."

"_If he is that famous, then I surely know him! What is his name, dad?"_

"His name is Jiraiya, he's one of the famous Sannin. They were a team of 3 people which were thought by the Third. I always called him Ero-sennin, because he is the biggest pervert alive, you can't believe how many times he got beaten up by an angry mob consisting of women. He got caught every time he tried to peak in the women's hot springs spa." said Minato and smiled at the memories.

"_I never heard of him. Anyway, let's go and get those weights!"_

Naruto ran to the Hokage tower at his maximum speed. Focusing all his chakra in his legs, his speed could be described as... fast. Very fast for his age. Not bothering to ask for permission to enter, the blond haired just dashed past the Chunin guards, busting into the Hokage's office. When he came in, a silver haired Jonin turned around, and the Hokage's eye brows rose a little.

"Good morning Kakashi-sensei! Hi old man!"

"Naruto? I haven't seen you in a while. How can I help you?"

"Tell him that it's a private matter."

"I have a request. But it's private and really important to me!"

The old man sighed and looked at Kakashi.

"Kakashi, you can leave. I'll send someone for you later."

"Understood, Hokage-sama. I'll see you on Monday, Naruto." saying that, the Copy-Ninja disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"So, Naruto," the elderly man started as he lighted his pipe, "what's so important that you come crashing in here so early in the morning?"

"Wait. Tell him that this is 'really' private, and that he is supposed to tell his two ANBU guards hidden in the room to wait outside. One of the guards is hidden behind the large bookshelf, the other one is using a camouflage technique, which makes him look like the wall behind the Hokage. "

"Oi, old man! I'm serious, this is really private. Could you make your two ANBU guards wait outside? I want to talk about this in private."

"ANBU guards?" asked the Hokage in surprise, "What are you talking about? The Hokage is strong, he doesn't need protection."

"Come on, gramps! Don't lie, I'm not stupid," Kyuubi started to laugh at the 'not stupid' part. "I know that there is one guard hidden behind the bookshelf." Naruto said, pointing at the bookshelf. "And I also know that the second one is hiding behind you, using a camouflage jutsu which makes him look like a wall. Good strategic placement, it allows the one behind you intercept any attacks while the second one summons reinforcements."

The old man's eyebrows now completely rose.

"I am impressed, young one. Only a handful of people know about the ANBU guards who watch the Hokage." The Third made a gesture with his hands, and the two revealed themselves. As the two guards made their way to the door, the one with a white cloak and mask resembling a bear, spoke to Naruto.

"Smart, Uzumaki-san. Very smart. First time that we got exposed by someone without a Sharingan or Byakugan. See you around."

When the two had left, the Hokage focused his attention on the young boy.

"How did you know about them?"

"_Can I tell him?"_

"No, not yet. We'll tell him when Jiraiya is also there."

"Can't tell, old man! Secret!"

"I will treat you to ramen if you tell me."

"Argh, that's a powerful offer. But I have to refuse, even if it hurts me deep inside. But I'll tell you if you can find someone by the name of Ero-sennin!"

Sarutobi's eyes nearly popped out. _'How.... he is just.... like his father."_

"You mean Jiraiya? He isn't in the village right now, but he will be back in a week or two. Just come to my office in 2 weeks and he'll probably be here."

"OK, I'll be there. But now to more important things. I'm here to ask you a favour."

"What favour?"

"I want you to give me the weights Minato gave to you. You know, those special chakra weights."

"I-I don't know what y-you're talking about." stuttered the Hokage.

"Of course you know, 'tebayo! I want to have the weights my dad gave to you."

Sarutobi's jaw felt really heavy, but he managed to keep it in place. This was really a lot of information. First, Naruto comes and exposes his guards. Then he asks for the special chakra weights which Minato gave to him. This day couldn't get any weirder.

"Your father?"

"Yeah, I know who my father is. He is Namikaze Minato, Konoha's Yellow Flash and the fourth Hokage!"

"How do you know that?"

"Eeehh..."

"_Shit! What do I say now?"_

"**Uh... Tell him that you saw the resemblance between yourself and him!"**

"Uhm, I-" But he was cut off as the old man stood behind him, pointing a Kunai at the blonds' throat.

"Who are you? How do you know about that? Give me one reason why I don't kill you right here, right now!" The Hokage's gentle voice was now cold and hard as steel.

"Quickly, Naruto! Say 'Kushina'!"

"_Kushina?"_

"Yes, your mother's name! Now, say it, fast!"

"Kushina!"

Two people froze when Naruto said that name. The Hokage and the person who was walking through the door exactly at that moment. He had long white hair and wooden sandals. His forehead protector also looked strange.

Sarutobi dropped the Kunai.

Jiraiya's eyes popped out. Firstly, because his sensei was holding a kunai against a small, young boy's throat, and secondly, because that boy had just yelled out his deceased student's wife's name.

"W-w-what did you say?"

"I said 'Kushina'. My mother's name."

Sarutobi regained his composure. "How do you know all this, Naruto? You come in here, exposing my Anbu guards. Then you tell me that you know about your father. And now you know who your mother is. You call Jiraiya by the name only the fourth called him. And you ask for the special weights which Minato used to improve his speed. Who told you all of this?" Demanded the old Hokage.

Jiraiya had just adjusted his jaw, when it dropped again.

"Boy, whatever your name is, I'll believe you that you aren't a threat when you answer me this question, which only a few people can answer. What did Minato call me?"

Naruto turned around and examined the man.

"Naruto that is Jiraiya, my sensei."

"You must be Ero-sennin, the mega pervert! My dad said that you are his sensei."

Another period of silence fell upon the attending people. So Naruto decided to take the opportunity and explain.

"I would consider sitting down, because explaining all of this will take at least until ramen time."

The two men took their seats, and after Naruto made himself comfortable, Minato decided make this day even stranger than it was in its current state.

"Naruto, you don't have to explain it to them."

"_Huh? What do you mean?"_

"I'll explain it to them."

"**How do you plan on doing that?"**

"I will create a Kage Bushin, but not just an ordinary one. If Naruto didn't have his huge chakra reserves, then this would most likely fail."

"_What is a Kage Bushin?"_

"It is similar to the Bushin, but it's not an illusion. A Kage Bushin is copy of yourself, with a solid body. But they get destroyed after a proper blow to the body. But there is a way to make a bushin which can last more than one blow. I'll tell you later. The Kage Bushin which I will use now is a special one."

"_Special?" _**"Special?" **Did both demon and human ask in union.

"Yes. I will create a Kage Bushin, which will be like a normal Bushin, but controlled by me. So it will have my abilities and appearance."

"**Will that make you leave this body? Would you be free?"**

"I don't think so. I think that I'll be still in this body. Transferring my soul like that wouldn't work, because a Kage Bushin doesn't have the proper capabilities that a human has... So I'll still be here, but controlling a clone outside at the same time."

"_Oh... Uh... Whatever just do it."_

"**You didn't understand a single word, did you?"**

"_I did understand! At least the part about the Kage Bushin being clone with an actual body."_

"Discuss later, time to perform a jutsu. Just relax Naruto and it'll be easier."

Outside of Naruto's Mind scape.

Jiraiya and the Third starred at Naruto for the better part of a minute, waiting him to start. The boy seemed to be in deep thought. After the minute had passed, Naruto snapped out of his daze and looked a bit confused as his hands started to perform a short set of seals.

"**Kage Bushin no jutsu! Soul Controlled Bushin!"**

A cloud of smoke established next to him. The person standing there could only be described as an older version of Naruto. Minato gave his flashiest grin...

Hours and hours flew by while Minato was explaining what had happened. Hokage and Jiraiya were shocked when they saw Minato, but when they found out that he was the real deal; they started to hear him out.

It was lunch time by now, and the four were on their way to Ichiraku's, because Naruto said that Hinata would meet him there. Minato cast a genjutsu, leading to ninjas and citizens not recognising who he truly was. They would believe that he was a person who looked very similar to the Fourth. The youngest one in the group was being teased by Jiraiya, due to his 'mega pervy-ness'

"Uhhh, Minato, your son has a girlfriend!"

"She's not my girlfriend, ERO-SENNIN!"

"Stop calling me that!"

"ERO ERO ERO ERO ERO ERO ERO ERO ERO ERO ERO ERO ERO ERO-SENNIN!"

The third Hokage and the fourth laughed at the dispute between the two. When they walked down the streets, more and more people started to stare at the group, especially at Minato. Being totally oblivious to the villagers, they made their way to the blond duo's favourite ramen stand. Some villagers shrugged at Minato's appearance, thinking that it's an illusion or just someone who looks a lot like the fourth. Other villagers started to stare after the four, three of them being legends, while one of them being an object of hatred. Oh, the irony.

The four were kicked out of their 'own world', when a small child came and pulled at the hem of Minato's robe. She was a small girl with brown hair and bright brown eyes. She obviously didn't know who any of the four were.

"Mister, your hair is really shiny! It's so pretty!" She said while looking up to him and smiling a cute smile.

The group came to halt when they heard the small child talk to Minato, who was turning around. The fourth lowered himself to the height of the small girl, grinning at her with the grin which would make children smile or laugh.

"Yeah, I like my hair too! You wanna touch it?" The girl nodded, so Minato lifted her off the ground and placed her on his shoulders.

Laughing, the girl patted Minato's hair, attracting the attention of the surrounding villagers. The villagers didn't dare to say anything, they just starred. After a few minutes, Minato put the small girl back on the ground.

"Say girl, what is your name?" Minato asked, grinning like always.

"I am Misha! And one day, I'll be the prettiest girl in the whole world!" The group started to laugh at the girl's dream.

"That is a nice ambition. Look, this here," Minato pointed at Naruto, "is my son. His name is Naruto. If you ever need something, ask him, OK?"

"OK, Mister! I need to go now; otherwise my mum will be really angry again! See you!" With that, the girl ran away to her mother.

The Third and Jiraiya had a nostalgic feeling. It was all so familiar. It's as if Minato had never been gone.

"To Ichiraku!" Exclaimed Naruto and pointed into the general direction.

Sighing, the group progressed towards the ramen stand. Once they arrived and had taken their seats, Naruto and his dad started to shout out their orders.

"MISO RAMEN, old man! Large bowl please!" Shouted Naruto, smiling in anticipation.

"SAME FOR ME!" said the other blond.

Teuchi turned around when he heard TWO familiar voices.

"Hi Naruto! Oh, hello Hokage-sama, Jiraiya-sama.... AHH?" Teuchi's eyes widened when he saw the fourth person grinning at him.

"H-h-hokage-sama??"

"Yo! Long time no see!"

"Aren't you supposed to be... dead?"

"Yes. He is _supposed_ to be dead." The third said jokingly. "But he came back from the dead, only to eat your special ramen!"

"O-oh... To work then! Ayame, we got some important customers!"

Ayame appeared from the kitchen. "Ok Dad, let's get cooking!"

The three legends chatted about old times, but Naruto wasn't completely listening, only at the parts which sounded interesting. It didn't matter, Kyuubi sucked in every detail of information like sponge absorbed water.

_'I wonder where Hinata-chan is. Maybe she forgot...'_

Speaking of Hinata, she was standing behind him, Sasuke next to her.

"Uhm... Hi... Naruto-kun." She spoke, less confident in the presence of the Hokage. Naruto spun in his chair, looking at Hinata.

"Hey Hinata-chan! Glad you could make it! Oh... Hey Sasuke-teme! What made you come here?"

Hinata took the seat beside Naruto and Sasuke sat beside her. "Hn. Could we talk outside for a second? It's important."

"Uh... Sure. I guess." The two left the stand.

Inside, the conversation had stopped when Hinata had entered. Jiraiya started his teasing.

"Hi! I am the Toad Sage, Jiraiya! Is Naruto a good boyfriend?"

"Uh.. Uhm... Ah..." Hinata's voice failed as she started to blush madly.

"Stop it, Jiraiya! Should I tease you about how Tsunade punched you so hard because she caught you doing your research?"

"No! No need for that..."

"Thought so, Ero-sennin."

Outside...

Sasuke grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him into a side alley next to the ramen stand.

"Huh, what's so important?"

"Didn't you notice?"

"Notice what?"

"Hinata, didn't you look at her?"

"Uh..."

"God damn it, are you blind? Anyway, I am here because I was walking through the streets when I saw Hinata, battered and bruised dragging herself here. I figured that she was on her way to meet you so I offered some help, even if it goes against every nerve in my body. She looks as if she had been beaten to the ground, several times in a row."

"Battered and bruised... How could that happen?"

"How should I know?"

"Thanks Sasuke, I'll ask her what happened. I'll treat you for ramen!" Naruto wanted to leave the side street, but the raven haired boy grabbed his shoulder again.

"That's not everything. Do you mind explaining why you are sitting in there, having lunch with the third Hokage, a legendary Sannin and somebody who happens to look EXACTLY like the deceased fourth Hokage??"

"Uh... The other guy with the blond hair... He's my... dad."

"Your dad? But he looks like the fourth.... Wait... YOU are the SON of the FOURTH?"

"Ehehehe...." Naruto gave one of his sheepish smiles when realization hit Sasuke.

"But he is DEAD! How can he be eating ramen with you if he's dead? A transformation? Illusion?"

Naruto became serious.

"No. He is the real deal. And he is the reason why I could perform these jutsu in the fight against Kiba. But... he is dead. At least in the physical way."

"Physical way?"

"Yeah... When he sealed the Kyuubi, he accidentally sealed his soul too. So he's like, inside me if you want."

"..."

"Anyway, I'm hungry. But I really wanna know what happened to Hinata... and when I find out... Then I'll crush the person who did it to her!"

When Sasuke and Naruto entered the ramen stand, Minato, Sarutobi and Jiraiya could tell that something of importance happened there.

First of all, Naruto's expression was serious, not his usual joyful one. Sasuke examined the older version of Naruto.

"You are the fourth." said Sasuke and stated the obvious.

"Huh?" Minato was bit confused. "Yeah that's me. You are an Uchiha?"

"Yes," Sasuke's face went blank, "and the last one alive."

"I heard what happened to your clan... I cannot express how sorry I am."

"Hn. It's fine. I'll rebuild it when I'm old enough." Sasuke said, as if he was going to rebuild a LEGO toy structure.

Of course, Jiraiya used that to lighten up the mood.

"Hihi, rebuilding your clan will be a fun thing to do, boy! Any ideas who to rebuild it wit-" Ayame had smacked Jiraiya's head with the largest wooden rolling pin she could find.

"I don't care who you are, but talking to a boy who's still in the academy like that is inappropriate!!!"

A large bulge formed on Jiraiya's head.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, sorry!"

Laughter filled the room, and Naruto used the distraction to examine Hinata. When she moved her arms, her jacket sleeves would fall back, revealing a part of her arm. It was red all over and covered in bruises and cuts. He could see bandages around her ankles, and she always winced a little when she moved her back.

"_Kyuubi, what do you think?"_

"**I think that you are a lot nicer when you are serious about this girl, I mean, you don't call me PLUSHIE and stuff. But I think that she's injured all over her body. Her back looks weakened, her arms are extremely bruised. Typical signs of exposure to chakra of some sort."**

"_What do think could've caused that?"_

"**Well, falling from a cliff wouldn't do damage like that, so she it had to be inflicted by a human."**

"_Thanks."_

"**You are welcome."**

"_... PLUSHIE!"_

"**Grr..."**

Naruto took his chance when the laughter had died down. He stopped eating, and spoke just loud enough so that the people in his company could hear. The voice he used was quiet and serious.

"Hinata..."

"Uh?" '_Answer, Hinata! Calm down, don't stutter!' _"Yes, Naruto-kun?"

"What happened to you?" Attention on Naruto and Hinata at that point. All of the other faces turned serious, they all had noticed her physical state.

"What do you mean, Naruto-kun?"

"We aren't blind, Hinata. We all see your condition." Sarutobi added.

"Uhm... Ah..."

Before she could say something or react, Minato had grabbed her jacket sleeve which covered her arm.

"Let's have a look, OK?"

Not waiting for agreement, he pushed the sleeve up her arms, making her give a little cry of pain. What the males saw was shocking. Her whole arm looked as if had taken beatings beyond imagination. Red bruises and cuts everywhere. Minato quickly shoved up the other sleeve to reveal a very similar condition.

"Holy..." Was all Jiraiya could say.

Naruto's and Sasuke's eyes widened. Those where serious injuries and they knew it.

"What happened, Hinata?" Naruto asked for the second time.

Her eyes wandered to the ground, suddenly finding interest in a pebble.

"I can't tell..."

The third tried his gentle, calming voice.

"Tell us Hinata. What happened to you?"

"I..I... can't." Was all she managed to say. Sasuke decided not to say anything, because he thought it would be awkward. Minato gave it a try.

"Please Hinata, we want to help you. Just tell us what happened."

"I... am not allowed... to say... anything."

Jiraiya who grew up with Tsunade, the legendary healer, had basic knowledge on wounds and their causes. He didn't say anything, but examined the damage done to her arm. This would need experienced med-nins to properly heal.

Naruto had enough of this, so gave it another try. He gently placed a hand under Hinata's chin, and gently forced her head up to meet his blue eyes.

"Hinata-chan... please... we're friends, remember?" The girl was close to tears now, "You can tell me everything. That's what friends are for, right?"

Hinata couldn't hold it anymore, the tears started to roll down her cheeks as she started to sob. The young blond did what his instinct told him to do, which was to comfort his friend. He gently put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close.

"It's ok Hinata-chan..."

After minutes of crying and sobbing, Hinata managed to calm down.

"Feel better now, Hinata-chan?"

"Y-yes... Thank you, Naruto-kun."

"No problem. But can you tell us now who did that to you?"

"But... I am not allowed..."

"Who says that you aren't allowed?" The Third inquired.

"My... my... clan."

"You're not allowed to tell us because you're clan told you not to?" Minato asked. He had suspected that the Hyuuga clan was somehow responsible for this. Her OWN clan.

"Well, you are in the presence of two Hokages, a Sannin and your friends. So as it is my right as the Hokage, I allow and order you to tell us the truth."

Hinata looked a bit unsure of what to do. So Minato decided to play his ace.

"If you don't tell us, I'll allow Naruto to go on a pranking spree for a whole day in the Hyuuga clan compound."

"Ok... But promise to not tell anyone... please?"

"Of course. If it's safe with anyone, then it's with us." answered Jiraiya.

"All these... injuries... come from... the Jyuuken."

"Jyuuken? The 'Gentle Fist'? The Hyuuga's taijutsu style?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yes..."

"So, what happened?"

"The... clan elders... they don't see me worthy as the clan heir... they say that I should be banned into the branch family... because I'm too weak... so they made my sister the clan heiress... but they had to prove that I am too weak... by humiliating me in front of the whole clan..."

"Humiliating?"

"Yes... they... ordered the branch members... to fight against me... and not to hold anything back... the branch members didn't want to... but they forced them with the cursed seal...I didn't want to fight... and then... they made my baby sister finish me off... to show that she was much capable of being the clan heiress... Nobody cared for me when I lay there... then after a while... the clan elders came and kicked me... they wanted to kill me... but my father... he stepped in and brought me to my room."

Silence.

"Why aren't you in the hospital?" Sasuke asked for the first time.

"They said... if anyone found out... they would surely kill me..." Hinata finished her story, looking very sad and leaving the attending people shocked.

Images of a young lady like her being pummelled senseless, by older, fully grown men, appeared in the imaginations of several attending people.

Minato, who was still inside Naruto and controlling the clone, could still hear the voices from Kyuubi and his son.

"**Oh oh, not good. Not good at all. His emotions are starting to pull on my chakra... I have reduced the amount which he has access to a minimum... but that will still be enough to cause havoc."**

A dark red aura formed around Naruto and his eyes turned red. His fingernails started to form into claws and his whisker marks became very visible.

"Old man... Take her... to the hospital... I have to go... and... KILL SOME MOTHERFUCKERS!!!" Screamed the eleven year old boy. Imagine an eleven year old screaming something like that...

"Jiraiya, quick, we have to seal the chakra, Kyuubi said he can't control it any longer!" Minato ordered as he started to perform a set of seals. Jiraiya started a different set of seals. Simultaneously, they activated their jutsu. Minato shoved his glowing hand into Naruto's stomach and Jiraiya pulled out a scroll and sealed the chakra inside.

Naruto went unconscious.

"Phew... that was a close call." The Sannin admitted as he stored the scroll.

Sasuke was completely shocked. He'd never been that shocked before. First, such injuries due to abuse on a girl his age, and now he had witnessed Naruto accessing Kyuubi's chakra for the first time. And that was only a small glimpse of the true power which Naruto held deep inside.

Sarutobi shook his head and looked around. Fortunately, they were the only people at Ichiraku's. That was because Ichiraku's Ramen Stand only had six seats in total. The chakra outburst just now could only be felt be shinoibis close by. But he didn't want to imagine what could happen if Naruto went out of control.

Minato turned to Sasuke and Hinata.

"This... uhm... 'Accident' stays between us, OK?"

"Yes sir." Both said.

"Hokage-sama...?" Sasuke asked slowly.

"Hey, around you guys, I'm just Naruto's dad. But what is it?"

"Just how much power does the Kyuubi have? And how much can Naruto use?"

"I... I don't know. But one day, every drop of Kyuubi's chakra will be his. And when that day comes, then I will feel sorry for everyone fighting him..."

"Hn."

Jiraiya and Sarutobi just looked confused and shocked to some extent.

"Minato, how come that these kids know of the demon?"

"Naruto-kun told us, Jiraiya-sama." Hinata answered for them.

"He told you... and you don't fear him, run around screaming when you see him, tell everyone that he has a demon inside him and simply hate him?"

"Hn. I don't care. Maybe I will grow stronger by training with him... to avenge my clan." Sasuke explained.

"And... I... I don't see a demon in him... and he is my first and only... true friend." Hinata shyly explained, a blush taking up most of the face once more.

"You chose wisely. Naruto will never forget that you were the first people to accept him." Sarutobi said.

"Now, let's get you to the hospital, Hinata."

"Uh... but the elders said..."

"Don't worry about the elders, you're going to the hospital, and afterwards, I'll shove my Rasengan into your father's ass for being such a jerk... Excuse my language, but this has defiantly gone too far. To treat a family member that way..."

"Noo, please... don't... They'll know that I told you and come for me."

"Not if I can help it." A gruff voice said behind her. She turned around and saw Naruto being conscious again.

"Naruto-kun... Are you alright!?"

"Yeah, my little friend in here," he patted his stomach, "kicked my back into reality. Sorry for that outburst... I couldn't help it. The anger... it was so strong."

"Don't worry kiddo; you'll learn how to control the demonic chakra once you are a Genin. That's if you manage to become a Genin, of course." Jiraiya said grinning at Naruto.

"You think that I can't become a Genin? I'll show you, ERO-SENNIN! I'll be Hokage, and then close down all women's bath houses in whole Konoha."

The white haired man's eyebrows closed the gap between them.

"You wouldn't dare."

"Hell yeah I would."

--

Minato, the Third, Jiraiya, Naruto and Sasuke were sitting outside Hinata's hospital room, chatting quietly. Hinata had just come out of emergency healing, and was still being treated by the best team of medic nins the hospital had. They first didn't understand what type of injuries could be so bad that it would need the whole team, but when the Hokage insisted and as they started to examine Hinata's wounds, they immediately started to do their job.

Naruto couldn't stand waiting and paced through the corridor, much to Sasuke's annoyance.

"Dobe, it's not going to end quicker if you pace through the corridor."

"I know... but I just can't stand waiting. It makes me worry."

"You really care about her, don't you?" Jiraiya asked, but was serious.

"NO! Well... yeah, I do. But not the way you think, PERVY."

Jiraiya was about to reply, but the door to the room opened and the leader of the medic team came out.

Sarutobi gave his order to the man. "Report."

The man hesitated a second, because of being around all these people. When saw that all eagerly awaited his report, and that the Hokage didn't seem to mind all these people listening, he decided to start.

"She was in a shocking condition; almost every part of her body was damaged in some way. We are familiar with the fighting way of the Hyuuga and were able to neutralize all the damage. She's lucky that she didn't get too much damage to her vitals, but there was some. If she hadn't been treated immediately, she would have died within a day. It will take about two weeks for her to completely recover. She has to stay in the hospital for at least five days, and then she can rest at home. No fighting, training, and moving should be restricted to a minimum amount. If she can do that, then her healing will sped up."

"Thank you. Dismissed."

"There is one more thing, Hokage-sama."

"Yes?"

"Whoever did this to her, didn't hesitate to attack with full force. I still don't know how she managed to survive, and how there had been only a little amount of internal bleeding and damage."

"Ok. Anything else?"

"No, Hokage-sama."

"Is she awake?"

"Yes."

"Thank you, dismissed."

The man walked away, and the five entered the room. Hinata lay on the hospital bed, wearing a short sleeved white hospital dress. Her arms were covered in bandages and the blanket was pulled up to her chest.

She turned to the people entering and gave them a little smile. They all took sat down on chairs, and Naruto was the first one to ask.

"Hinata, are you alright?"

"Yes. I am really thankful that you made me go to the hospital... I would have died if I hadn't come here."

"Nah, it's okay. Friends care for each other, Hinata-chan!" A relieved Naruto said with a large grin, making the Hyuuga blush. The Hokage cleared his throat, gaining the attention.

"Hinata, you will be released from the hospital in a few days. We," The old man gestured towards Minato and Jiraiya, "will make sure that you will be living in an apartment with someone guarding you until the matter with your family," He spat the word 'family', " is solved.

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"If there is a test in the academy, Iruka will come by and give you the test and supervise you taking the test. Is that alright with you?"

"Yes."

"Dang, you'll miss out on our trip to the museum, Hinata-chan." Naruto was a little sad that Hinata couldn't go with him.

"Yes Naruto-kun, I wish I could go. I really wanted to see those kunai the Hokage used during the war with Iwagakure."

"You mean the three bladed kunai?" Asked Sasuke. It was the first time he had said something during their time in the room.

"Yes, those ones."

"Huh? You talkin' about my kunai?"

"Yeah dad, remember when I was talking about them in our weapons lesson on Friday?" Was what Naruto said to make his dad remember.

"Oh yeah, I remember. Well, you don't have to go the museum to look at them. I always have them with me, right here." Minato removed his kunai holster and emptied it's contents onto the table next to the bed, so that everyone could see.

Several kunai, shuriken and seal tags were now on the table. Minato picked one of his famous kunai and handed one to Hinata.

"Here, have a look."

Naruto also took one from the table, examining it closely. He took it and did some basic movements.

"Dad, these are way better than ordinary kunai!"

"Yeah, that's why I use them."

"Sasuke, check 'em out!"

"Hn."

Naruto handed one of the Kunai to Sasuke, who also took his time examining it.

"Hn... You're actually right. They are a bit heavier but better balanced, making them easier to throw." The Uchiha said more to himself than to Naruto. These weapons were surprisingly good, maybe he could learn to use them...

"Yeah, and it's a lot easier to block incoming blades with the three bladed shape like that. Your dad had a hard time hitting me with his kunai and shuriken combinations."

"You knew... my father?" Sasuke's interest was suddenly awake.

"Yeah, we went to the academy together and we were best buds... Too bad that he was a bit of a stick in the mud... I was the first person to be fast enough to make his Sharingan useless." Minato said, pride in his voice and a smile on his lips at the old, fond memories.

Sasuke thought for a second. This person was befriended with his father, so he surely knew stories and other things about his dad.

"Could you... do me a favour, Minato-sama?"

"Depends," he said smiling, "what is it?"

"Could you... tell me about... my parents sometime?"

"Your parents? Like stories from when we were young?"

"Yes..."

"Sure. Just come to Naruto's apartment on Monday after the museum trip."

"Thank you. I never really... got to ask my parents about their childhoods."

"I suggest bringing some clothes to change... 'Cause it's going to take all day and night telling you about them."

"Dad? You want Sasuke to sleep at my place?" Naruto asked with a bit of confusion. No one has ever been in his apartment before. It wasn't like Naruto had a problem with it, but no one had ever bothered coming to his place.

"Why not? If he doesn't mind, then neither should you."

"If you say so, dad."

"Yeah. It's up to you, Sasuke. We wouldn't mind."

It was against Sasuke to interact with people more that it was necessary, but he couldn't resist this offer. He would have the chance to find out about his parents, and maybe Naruto's dad even knew something about other members of his family.

"I'll accept that offer, Minato-sama."

"Cool. We'll make sure that we have something else beside ramen in the fridge, right Naruto?"

Naruto just mumbled something about ramen and a stupid fox, but didn't reply to his father's question but simply shrugged. He looked over to Hinata, who was still looking at the kunai. The blond saw her gaze wandering to the items on the table.

"Uhm... Minato-sama?"

"Yes, Hinata?"

"Those shuriken... they look unusual."

"You mean these?" Minato took one and gave it to her when she nodded. "These are the type of shuriken I use. They are also a bit different from standard ones. The shuriken had six, instead of four points. The hole in the middle of the weapon was large enough to fit two fingers. The points and edges looked razor sharp, and the shuriken itself was a little slimmer that the standard ones, but still the same size.

Jiraiya spoke up. "Those are special shuriken. It took Minato about half a year to throw them without injuring himself. They are a lot sharper, and rotate at a higher rate when thrown properly. You can also infuse chakra into them, giving them special attributes."

"Cool... can you buy them?" Naruto was very interested in his father's weapon arsenal. He would ask him to teach him how to use them.

"No. Like the chakra weights, they have to be customarily made. I forged every single one myself. Took me a lot of time..."

"Oh..." The disappointment was evident in Naruto's voice. Sasuke also looked a bit disappointed.

"But I can give you the practice set, which I used. And when you know how to properly throw them, then I'll teach you how to forge some, ok?"

"Yay, thanks dad!" Smiling, Minato ran a hand through Naruto's hair.

"Oi, old man!" He said, talking to the current Hokage.

"Mhh?"

"Do you mind getting the chakra weights and the practice set? I know you still have them."

"Yes. I will be back in a few minutes." The man disappeared in a whirl of leaves.

"**I wonder where these leaves always come from..." **Kyuubi asked himself, wondering why people bothered using objects such as leafs for their Shunshin.

After a few minutes, the Hokage reappeared in a swirl of leaves, carrying a small bag. He took the bad and placed its contents on the table next to Minato's weaponry.

"Here you go."

On the table was a kunai holster which contained a set of the three bladed kunai and six pointed shuriken, next to it were four 'things' which could be described as sweatbands or armbands. They were black and looked as if they were made out of cloth.

Minato took the sweatbands and handed them to Naruto.

"What are these things?"

"They are the special chakra weights. I asked Jiraiya to make them look like ordinary sweatbands, it makes them look less suspicious. Strap one to each of your legs and arms.

And so, Naruto did as he was told. "Now, channel some chakra into them."

"How much?"

"For the first days... I'd say about enough chakra to make a henge."

Naruto channelled the chakra into the black weights, and instantly felt the weight.

"Whoa, that's heavy!" He exclaimed.

"Yeah, each should be about five kilograms now."

"Isn't that too much, dad?"

"Nah, I started with seven kilograms. You'll get used to them in a few hours."

"I'll make them 7 kilo tomorrow! Dattebayo!"

Jiraiya leaned forward to his student, and whispered.

"Did you really use seven kilos when you were young?"

"Yeah..."

"Shit."

Naruto was already examining the shuriken and kunai. "Hey dad, they look blunt. Should I sharpen them?"

"No. Again, channel some chakra into them."

And again, he did as he was told. The edges turned sharp the moment the chakra hit the kunai.

"Hey, they're sharp now."

"Hehe."

The Third cleared his throat again. "I have to leave now. Hinata, we will be back, and maybe we'll have found a solution by that time. We'll also pay a visit to you clan tomorrow, don't you agree, Jiraiya, Minato?"

Jiraiya's face went serious as he stopped imagining impure scenes involving Mitarashi Anko and Yuuhi Kurenai. Minato's face turned into a grim expression.

"Yeah... I wonder how they feel when they get double penetrated by two Rasengan... painful; don't you think so, sensei?" Minato asked with a bit of sadistic smile.

"Oh I'm sure that they'll enjoy that."

With that, Jiraiya and Sarutobi left, leaving Sasuke, Hinata and the two Namikaze. Sasuke also got up and prepared himself to leave.

"I hope you recover soon, Hinata-san. I'll see you tomorrow, Naruto, Minato-sama."

"Bye, teme. Don't forget to bring stuff to wear."

"I won't."

Now, only two blond haired and a black purplish haired girl remained.

"We better get going, Naruto. I'm gonna poof, ok?"

"Ok dad."

"Bye, Hinata." Minato formed a cross shaped seal with his fingers and poofed out of existence.

Hinata allowed her eyes to widen. "Naruto-kun??"

"Yeah?"

"Your father... he just disappeared...?"

"Oh, I forgot. I didn't tell you the other part about my sealing... Sasuke figured it out by himself. You see, the reason why I had been able to perform these jutsu in the fight against Kiba," Naruto had to smile a bit when he remembered the Rasengan, "the reason is, that my dad accidentally sealed himself inside me when he sealed Kyuubi-the-mega-plushie." Naruto casually explained. He thought that if she already accepted the Kyuubi, then a Hokage wouldn't be too much of a deal.

"**+!%*! Grr, one day, I'll make you pay for making me look like a toy!" **Growled Kyuubi as deep as could manage.

"You have... two souls sealed inside you?"

"Yeah. But I think the difference between the two is my dad also sealed Kyuubi's chakra into me. I don't know if he also sealed his body inside me."

"Oh..."

Naruto sat down beside her bed. "You know, a lot has happened to me, all in a few days. It's a bit strange. I have a friend now. I don't know what Sasuke thinks of me, but he doesn't seem to hate me. I have a father now. I have an oversized plush monster inside me. I met a legendary Sannin and my dad is going to train me. All this is a lot to understand for me... but I'm sure it's going to be alright! My life had been so miserable, it couldn't get any worse. It can only get better, and it is starting to get better. I'm really happy about that."

"Naruto-kun..."

"But when I saw you... hurt like that... I just wanted to go and make them cry in pain... Not even I have ever experienced such wounds. Sure, villagers would attack and hurt me, but not like that. Believe me, Hinata. They are going to pay. But I won't go and attack the Hyuuga clan. I normally would, but I know a better way to make them pay. To make them regret ever hurting you. You know what I am going to do? No, what _**we **_are going to do?"

"No... _**we**_?"

"Yeah. We will train hard and make you strong! And when you are really strong, you can on take all of them and show them just how strong you really are!"

Naruto held out his hand to Hinata.

"Are you willing to make them pay? Beat them at their own game? Training with me and dad will be hard. But who gets to train under the famous fourth?" Naruto asked with a proud grin.

Hinata gently took his hand and smiled at him. A full-on smile, no blushing, fainting or total awkwardness. She felt confident.

"Yes, Naruto-kun!"

"It's settled then! We will make those idiots pay! Believe it!"

Naruto leaned down and gave Hinata a small and quick hug, being careful not to hurt her because of her wounds. This, of course, led to the usual reaction: Blushing.

When Naruto made his way to the door, Hinata said something, something which he had always wanted to hear from somebody.

"Naruto-kun... Thank you... for everything."

"Hey, it's what friends do!"

"You being my friend... is the best thing which has ever happened to me... in my whole life. It's nice to be your friend, Naruto-kun."

"It's nice to be your friend too, Hinata-chan."

And with that he left the room, heading home.

"Naruto-kun.... One day... I'll make you proud... And tell you how I really feel..."

--

The Monday came, and Minato and Kyuubi woke Naruto like they did the previous day by running mad in his mind.

"_YO! STOP IT, I AM AWAKE!" _Naruto mentally screamed.

Naruto finished his morning routine and went to the training clearing, so he could get used to the weights. He had slept with the weights, but he could still feel them. Kyuubi made him do his usual chakra control drills first. Then the instructed him to fight against an imaginary opponent, so that they could improve his taijutsu stance and moves.

When his training session finished, he changed and wanted to pack his note book, a pen and lunch, but he asked his father if he could seal the items into a small scroll for him. After a minute of consideration, Minato agreed and did the special Kage Bushin again and sealed the items into a small scroll for his son. Naruto placed the scroll inside a pocket of his jumpsuit.

He met Sasuke on his way to the academy and joined him on his way there.

The students gathered outside the academy building, and Kakashi eventually arrived and did the name roll. After a 15 minute walk, the group of students arrived at the museum. Kakashi showed them several relics, which most students found rather boring.

That changed when they reached the part of the museum which held the weapons. Kakashi attempted to keep the group together and teach something about the famous weapons. Without much luck. He created a few clones of himself, and instructed them to keep them together. When he finally managed to get everyone's attention, he said.

"As I can see, you are eager to see the weapons... And apparently uninterested in their history. Not that I mind though," he said as he pulled out an orange book from his back pouch, "So go ahead and look at the weapons. Their history and description is written next to them anyway, so unless it's something important... Whatever, just have fun." The jonin disappeared and started to read his favourite book. Kakashi casted a genjutsu protecting him from sight. This way, he could read his book in peace and look if something of importance was going on.

And his instinct was right. Something of importance was about to happen.

Kiba knew that this was the ideal chance. The teacher wasn't near and all the people who had seen him getting beat into the ground, or academy wall in that case, were all gathered in this large room where the weapons were available for exhibition.

Sasuke and Naruto were currently looking at the Thunder Sword, used by the second Hokage.

"I wonder how that weapon works." Wondered Naruto out loud.

"It seems to be a blade activated by chakra... Ask your dad."

"He says that he doesn't know for sure. But he thinks that the strength of the blade depends on the user's chakra..."

"Hn."

"Hey, Naruto!" Kiba barked from behind the duo. Naruto turned around and waved.

"Kiba." He said in a dismissive tone, turning back to the weapon. He looked to his right and saw the glass box containing the three bladed kunai. The 30 piece set. They were small compared to a sword, but to his dad, they were tools of mass destruction. The box was quite far away.

Naruto's tone irritated Kiba further. "So, you are hanging with Uchiha, huh?"

"Yep." Naruto didn't bother to explain.

"Not gonna explain, are ya?"

"Nah. What's it to you anyway?" The verbal exchange already attracted looks from the other students. Sakura just shook her head and spoke to her eternal rival, Ino.

"Man, here we go again."

"I hope that Sasuke-kun gets into the action!"

"Oh my God, that'd be soooo cool." Squealed the fan girl with the abnormally large forehead.

The conversation between the two continued. More and more academy students knew that there'd be another fight, and Kakashi knew it too. But he was bit too lazy to get to the pair, and he had just reached the best part of his... por-... err... novel. And even if there was a fight, these two couldn't put a scratch on either a wall, glass box or anything else exhibited in the museum. All items were protected with special chakra enforced material and glass. It would need an extremely strong attack to destroy anything.

Minato and Kyuubi also knew that.

"**Guess we'll have to help him out again."**

"You think so?"

"**Yup. Got anything in mind?"**

"I sure do.... This is gonna be fun."

Kyuubi pulled out a camcorder out of nowhere and started to record.

"**Woopie. Another movie for the collection."**

Back to Naruto and Kiba.

"What it means to me? Pah, not much."

"Well, then what's your problem? If there is nothing else, I'll go and look at some artefacts."

"We got some unfinished business, idiot!"

"Huh, what are you talking about?"

"Stop acting dumb. You think you're just as bad-ass as the Uchiha only 'cause you hang with him?"

"No? He is quite an interesting person, y'know? If you get past the one-word-sentences and stuff."

"As if, you're just acting cool because you think that you're the strongest. You got lucky in the fight against me last time, that won't happen again."

"You are still upset because you lost the fight? Come on, that was like, last week. Get over it. You lost, fair and square."

"If you're so strong, why don't you fight me again, right here, right now!"

"Come on... We're in a museum; there is no need to fight." Saying that, Naruto turned around, walking towards a large white sword.

But Kiba would have his fight, whether Naruto wanted to fight or not. Sasuke followed Naruto and quickly turned around when he heard a poof. He turned just in time to see Akamaru transform into a copy of Kiba, and that both jumped into the air, starting to spin. The two Gatsuuga came towards them at high speed. Reacting on instinct, Sasuke leaped out of the way.

But Naruto didn't have time for that. His back was turned towards the attackers, he was slower due to the weights and had nowhere to escape. Minato acted quickly. Naruto's hands formed no seal. Naruto blinked, expecting pain to hit him in waves. But he looked behind him, and saw himself standing next to the exhibition box holding his father's prized kunai.

"_What the?"_

"I used Hiraishin no Jutsu, also known as Flying Thunder God technique. It appears that my old seals on the kunai are still working. I am impressed with myself... Hehe."

"_You teleported me?"_

"No. Teleportation is the same as moving at an extreme speed. What I used isn't teleportation, it is a time and space transfer jutsu... Meaning, that you literally manifested here."

"_Uh... So I didn't move fast, I came into existence at a new place?"_

"In a way... yes. Now, time to fight, my son. Take the sealing scroll and unseal the practice Kunai and Shuriken set. The set also contains the three bladed kunai."

All students, including Kakashi had witnessed Naruto disappearing and reappearing. Kiba was the one most shocked, his attack was dead-on, and even a blind one couldn't have missed. The general attention of the audience was directed to Naruto, as he unrolled a scroll on the floor and unsealed a kunai holster which he strapped to his right leg.

He put away the scroll, and drew two kunai from his holster.

"You wanna fight? Come and get some!!!"

Kyuubi changed his tape and started to record.

**A/N:**

**Mwhaha. A cliffie**

**LATER. ENJOY!**

**-Matimac**


	6. A Nightly Visit!

Chapter 5: A Nightly Visit!

Kiba growled and charged at Naruto with the transformed Akamaru by his side. Naruto threw one of the three bladed kunai. Kiba dodged but immediately felt sharp pain radiating from his left cheek. Naruto had appeared next to him, using the thrown Kunai as a beacon. While the clone of Kiba flew through the air, the real Kiba threw a punch into the direction of the blond, only to found his punch connecting with the air.

Naruto had returned to the kunai in the glass display and was now throwing the sharp weapons into the general direction of Kiba. It looked as if his aim was poor, but he was throwing them into rather random directions on purpose.

He suddenly appeared in front of Akamaru, landing several punches on the clones' body. While Akamaru was wincing in pain, Naruto crouched and delivered a hard jump-uppercut to the dog's jaw. Kiba just watched in shock as his Ninken got smacked into the air. Kiba wanted to do something, but he wasn't even near the speed of Naruto. Naruto leaped into the air, using a final heel kick to send Akamaru towards the air. The transformation dispelled and the beaten dog lay wincing on the ground-

"You son of a bitch! You hurt Akamaru! I'll CRUSH YOU!" Kiba screamed.

Naruto looked at him with cold blue eyes.

"You shouldn't lose your temper in combat. Neither should you fight someone who doesn't want to fight and has already beaten you before... with ease. And on top of all, I'm not gonna hold back!"

Kiba did what idiots always do, charging a top speed. But he didn't see the kunai on the ground... Naruto focused on the kunai and appeared at his desired destination, crouching and kicking Kiba straight in the stomach, sending him flying backwards. To add to Kiba's bad luck, a kunai lay on the ground behind him. Of course, Naruto and Minato used that chance to appear behind their opponent who was still in mid air.

The young academy student appeared behind the boy with the gray jacket, and rammed his knee into Kiba's back. The two forces colliding made the Inuzuka cry in pain. He was on the ground, but wouldn't give up.

Naruto stood there. It was like déja vu, but this time it was the other boy struggling to get to his feet. Naruto knew that Kiba would attack him, despite his condition. So he decided to end this useless fight with a grand finalé.

His hands grabbed the last two kunai from his pouch and he threw the left one towards Kiba, aiming at a spot on the ground behind the dog user. Kiba got to his feet, pain evident in his face.

"Come on, Kiba. This is pointless. Just let it go and we can call it even, ok?"

"Call it... even? You hurt my best friend and humiliated me in front of everybody! I'll fight and defeat you!"

"It was your idea. Don't complain to Kakashi-sensei for me beating you up." Naruto warped himself next to Kiba and grabbed him by the shoulders. He focused all his chakra into his arms and threw him skywards. He threw his remaining Kunai into the direction of Kiba and appeared right in front of him. But this time, a blue spinning orb in his right hand. He whispered something.

"You also hurt my best friend..." Most students couldn't hear it, but his words were obvious.

"Remember this?" Kakashi overcame his shock of seeing Naruto warp all over the place and holding a Rasengan. Wanting to stop Naruto, he used the Body Flicker Technique. But it was too late.

"**Rasengan!"**

**Boom.**

Naruto had used the Rasengan, making it even more destructive by hitting Kiba with it from above, making him go downwards. Gravity applied and Kiba had crashed into the ground.

"**Nice." The fox cheered.**

Kakashi arrived at the scene, already picking the unconscious Kiba from the ground.

"I'll be at the hospital... again. You guys wait here." Were his instructions, and after a short glare at Naruto, he finally brought the student to the medic nins.

Naruto started to collect his kunai and placed each of them into his holster. Removing the holster, the blond made his way to his small sealing scroll.

"_Maaan that was a really good fight! Thanks for lending me a hand dad! If you hadn't then this fight might have lasted longer than it should have. That time space thingy is SO cool! Teach me, teach me!"_

"Calm down, son. I think I overdid it with the Rasengan in the end... Kakashi will possibly confront you after the trip."

"_Let him! Can you seal the weapons back into the scroll? We aren't allowed to have our holsters attached when we're outside the academy."_

"Yes."

"_Oh, and can you unseal my lunch? All that warping around made me hungry!"_

After Naruto sealed his weapons and unsealed his lunch with the hand seals that suddenly popped into his mind, Minato spoke to his fellow prisoner.

"So, what do you think, Kyuubi?"

"**Very impressive. But next time is my turn to help."**

"If you want to."

"**Of course I do... I have this great jutsu in mind..."**

"Something with killing, healing and killing again?" Inquired Minato with a large drop of sweat at the back of his head.

"**Something like that..." **Said the fox,grinning like a maniac.

--

Sasuke had a backpack on his back and walked towards Naruto's place. _'I can't believe I'm actually doing this. But the fourth might have information. To believe that you have a demon sealed inside yourself... and to have another human soul inside you... and person happens to be your father and Hokage... Hn.'_

Sasuke climbed the staircase to Naruto's apartment. When he reached the door, he hesitated for a second and then knocked. His waiting subdued when the door opened and two pairs of blue eyes shined bright into his direction.

"Hey Sasuke." Greeted Naruto and gestured him to come inside. Sasuke nodded and followed the duo. This was the first time he had accepted an invitation from one of his peers. He looked around and noticed the shape the apartment was in. Walls looked as if they were old and everything just looked... used. The apartment was rather small; his own was about twice the size.

Minato noticed Sasuke examining the new environment. _'Naruto would be sad if I say something now... I'll do it later.'_

Minato gestured towards the table in Naruto's living room and the trio sat down.

"So, Sasuke. What do you want to know?"

And Sasuke started to ask.

Hours and hours passed. Minato had lots of stories to tell them. It was now 9 pm and Naruto was already asleep, sitting in his chair.

"Sasuke..."

"Yes?"

"You noticed the shape Naruto's apartment is in, right?"

"Hn... Yes I did."

"I assume that you know why this is this way..." Minato said, looking depressed.

"The villagers hate him because of the demon."

"Yeah. I'll have a nice chat with the landlord of this apartment..."

"Why?"

"My son has to shower in ice cold water every day... And the heating system hardly works. I can't even imagine how terrible it must have been during winter time."

Sasuke's eyes widened a bit. He enjoyed his daily warm shower and the warmth during winter. To imagine that Naruto only knew complete coldness... Emotional and physical coldness.

"Anyway, I'll get the spare mattress from under Naruto's bed." Minato went to Naruto's bed room and pulled out the mattress from beneath and placed it next to Naruto's bed. He went back to the living room and lifted Naruto off the chair and placed him into his bed. When he tugged the young blond under his blanket he went back to Sasuke.

"Alright, you can make yourself at home. I have to go and do some Hokage business even if I'm officially dead."

"Hokage business?"

"Yeah..."

"You're launching an attack on the Hyuuga compound, Minato-sama? Isn't that against the Hokage's code?"

"Hey, I'm officially dead. I can do whatever I want. Hiruzen is a man of peace. And Jiraiya is a wise Sannin, who only uses violence when needed. But this... this will be off the record. We've seen the wounds on Hinata's young body. She was left for dead, they were hoping that the internal injuries would kill her. This screams for consequences. Naruto is Hinata best and only friend. Same goes for Hinata. She's Naruto's first true friend. My son is protective of her, and I can understand why. They will have a wonderful relationship." Minato grinned at the last statement.

"Now, if you'll excuse me. I have to go back into Naruto's mind and create a new bushin. Be back in a few seconds."

Minato formed the tiger seal and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Sasuke looked towards the sleeping Naruto, whose hands were lazily forming seals while he was sleeping.

"**You're going to the Hyuuga place?" **Asked Kyuubi.

"You heard that because of you extending your senses, huh?" Minato wasn't surprised. He had expected Kyuubi to listen.

"**No. I was watching Star Wars. It's just a feeling."**

Minato sweat dropped and fell over, anime style. _'I wonder if all demons are like this.'_

"Anyway, I will now create another clone of myself, but I'll create another special bushin. I'll use all of Naruto's natural chakra. This will create a bushin, which will be able to use jutsu. And I will be able to take more than one blow."

"**All his chakra? Wow, that's a lot. That means that you can use a lot of chakra. Will you do the Flying Thunder God?"**

"I intend in doing so."

"**Well. May the force be with you. Choose your attacks wise, you must."**

Minato fell over again. The demon was talking... just too much too handle. We wondered what ever happened to the Kyuubi's original personality. But was sure that he'd find out eventually.

Outside, a cloud of smoke established next to Naruto's bed. The smoke cleared and Minato stood there, doing some warm ups.

"There, back again."

"You look like before." said Sasuke, unimpressed.

"But I now have more chakra, even more than I had when I was alive. I took all of Naruto's chakra. Gotta go, sleep tight!" Minato opened the kitchen window and jumped onto the next roof.

Sasuke went to the bathroom to ready himself for his sleep. Inside Naruto's mind, Kyuubi was debating with himself whether he should go and help the trio.

"**Maaan. Star Wars episode 5 is bull shit. Should I go and help that Minato? I could use some action. Yeah, I'd use some Katon jutsu... yeah. And maybe some Kitsune techs... But I can't control Naruto's body, unfortunately. He has to agree and be awake."**

So, the fox started to make lots of noise inside Naruto's mind, intending to wake him up. It took some time, but he succeeded eventually.

"_What the hell? What do you want Plushie, I was busy dreaming of a jutsu which can create ramen out of stone."_

"**Grrr. I. Am. Not. A. Plushie," **growled the demon, **"but I have something which could be of interest. Your father is gone, and he took all your chakra."**

"_Huh? What are you talking about 'tebayo??"_

"**I'm saying that your father is at the Hyuuga compound, 'resolving' the issue about your girlfriend. That Sannin and the leader of this puny village are there too."**

Normally, Naruto would have shouted at Kyuubi for calling Konoha a puny village, but this wasn't a normal situation.

"_Whaaaaaat? I wanna go too! Destroy some stupid Hyuugas who all have a stick up their butt!"_

"**That's why I woke you. They will go out against a whole clan, and there are only three of them. Maybe we could go and lend a hand..."**

"_Let do it! But wait... I don't have any chakra and I could hardly fight against a Hyuuga. They're really strong. I don't know any jutsus."_

"**We'll use my chakra and my battle techniques. That will be fun."**

"_We can do that? But how do I know that I can trust you? You're a demon fox!"_

"**There is a seal here, keeping me inside you. That seal prevents me from taking control over you."**

"_... Point taken. Let's go, dattebayo!"_

Sasuke came out of the bathroom, only to see Naruto leaving the apartment using the same window Minato had used a few minutes earlier.

"Baka, what are you doing?" But Naruto was already out, a faint red glow surrounding him.

Sasuke shook his head and sighed. _'He's probably going to the Hyuuga compound. Not my problem. I have enough to think about.'_

Near the Hyuuga compound.

Three men, each representing their own generation, stood in the moon light, determination and anger written all over their faces. They looked like ghostly silhouettes.

"Ready?"

"Yes."

"I could do some research now... but this has more importance."

In a blur the three dashed towards the compound. The two guards saw the three and blocked the gate.

"HALT!" The older guard yelled.

The three could've just knocked them out, but this would be a better way to make their presence noticed. None of the legendary nins said anything.

_'This is probably the most stupid thing I will do in my time as Hokage. The Hyuuga will be very angry. But still, I can't resist. And just thinking of that poor mistreated child...' _The thoughts going through Hiruzen's mind were interrupted as the guards started to talk.

"What are you doing here in the night!?"

"We are here to talk to your clan elders. Mind if we go through?" Minato explained in a casual tone.

"We are instructed to refuse entry to anyone during night time."

"Refuse entry, huh?" Jiraiya said, "How do you define the term 'refuse'?"

The guards saw that these people were serious. If it weren't night time, they could have seen their faces. A good shinobi would have recognized Jiraiya by his silhouette, but fortunately, these two were Chunin level and not the brightest bulbs.

So they decided to fall into a combat stance, confident that they could easily send these fools home.

"We are ordered to refuse entry to anyone, even if it takes force."

Wrong move. The next few things happened in a mere second. Jiraiya appeared in front of the older guard, while Minato appeared facing the younger one. Both held a blue sphere in their hands.

The orbs connected with the individual stomachs, sending the guards crushing into the gate. The gate was forced open with a loud booming noise which surely would attract attention.

Jiraiya grinned at his student who equally grinned back. Hiruzen shook his head.

"Impulsive, as always. You'd be an attractive blond version of Jiraiya if you were a pervert, Minato."

"Hehe... But I'm not!"

"Deep down, you are! My mega pervertness must have rubbed off on you, Minato!" Exclaimed Jiraiya, doing his standard 'frog sage' pose.

"Kushina would kill me if I were a perv!" Minato looked a bit somber when he mentioned his wife's name. The other two noticed that. Minato looked into Jiraiya's eyes and asked something he had wanted to ask for several days now.

"Jiraiya... Do you know anything about... her?" He was serious now. If there was one thing he missed, it was his beloved wife.

"I checked on the village you sent her too once. It's a quiet place, very peaceful and the people are very friendly. When I checked, she was still in a comatose state. But the ANBU said she would be fine soon, I am pretty sure that they are still there."

"Good..."

"Does Naruto know?"

"Not yet... I'll tell him when he graduated. I don't think that anything will stop him from seeing his mother."

"Heh... Indeed. I think he'd give up ramen if he had to choose." Added Hiruzen.

"So would I... Now, let's cause some havoc." Hiruzen sighed when Minato said that.

"I can't believe that we're assaulting the Hyuuga compound. I wonder if we can make it out alive. This will be the most stupid thing I've ever done. And this will have lots of consequences."

"Whatever, us attacking is better than Naruto using the Kyuubi to go on a rampage. Let's feel the youthful feeling that combat gives a ninja!" Jiraiya exclaimed.

Silence was the reply.

"Huh? Did I say something wrong...?" Jiraiya wondered.

"You sound like Gai..."

Jiraiya wanted to reply, but was interrupted as another guard came to the scene.

"What's going on over here? Who are you?"

Jiraiya unrolled the scroll he brought. The scroll was at least ten meters long and Jiraya started to perform a set of hand seals.

"**Sealed Genjutsu: Sealed Dome!"**

Chakra leaked from the scroll and slowly started to spread over the Hyuuga compound, taking the form of a dome. After a few seconds, the whole complex was covered by the dome.

The guard was stunned and didn't have time to react when he got hit square in the face, being knocked out.

The three made their way to the part where the Main House resides. That's where the elders would be. Minato, Jiraiya and Hiruzen moved in a blur.

When they came near the large complex where the members of the Main House lived, they were greeted by a rather large group of determined looking Branch Family members. The three came to halt.

"It seems as if we've been noticed."

"Yeah."

The apparent leader of the Hyuuga group stepped forward.

"Intruders! This is the only warning you'll get! Leave instantly or we will use force! We give you 3 seconds before we attack!"

"Three seconds? That's a lot of time. Enough time for me to do this..." Minato said to himself. He bent his knees, crouched, and jumped high into the air. While he was climbing into the sky he started rotating, very much in the way the Hyuuga do when they used their ultimate defence, the Kaiten, which is also known as Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Spin. To describe it as accurate as possible, Minato was spinning and releasing large volleys of kunai into specific directions. Especially into the gardens of the main house, where the actual brawl was going to take place, he assumed. The kunai were like him, shadow cloned. This would mean that the kunai would be dispelled with him, erasing all the evidence of them being there.

The Hyuuga started to attack the moment he had landed. Jiraiya and Hiruzen didn't look threatened at all.

Jiraiya's hands performed two seals. _'Boar, Tiger!'_

"**Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!"**

Jiraiya was careful not to use too much chakra or make the swamp deep and large enough, so that it could possibly kill the attackers. Not that he would mind though, but they had agreed on to not kill anyone.

The swamp formed and most of the Hyuuga were slowly sinking into it. A few had managed to jump and avoid the attack. Hiruzen had anticipated that and was already in the air, using a few strikes to paralyse the remaining Hyuuga. When all of them were taken care of, the three made their way towards the Main Building.

"Did you place the seals, Minato?"

"Yup. I can now warp us out of here if we have to."

"It looks as if they know that we're here. Took them long enough, but I wonder when we get to face off against members of the Main Family."

"I think we won't have to wait long. Once they realize who we are... I feel as if I'm back in my twenties..." Said the Third, the feeling of youth rushing through him.

Jiraiya laughed as the three slowly walked through the gates leading to the Main House. It was pitch black, dark as night. When the three walked through the gate, the lights turned on and the three found themselves facing Hyuuga Hiashi.

"So... you are the intruders..."

"Yo." Minato waved.

"Good evening." The Third greeted.

Hiashi's Byakugan flared for a second.

"There is no doubt about it; you aren't clones or people in disguise. What can I do for you, Hokage-sama, Jiraiya-sama. What is so important that you come here during the night. And who are you, stranger?"

Minato replied first.

"Wow. I'm dead for... eleven years and you don't recognize me, Hiashi? No bells ringing? I mean, don't my hair or my cape ring any bells?"

"... 11 years? Namikaze?"

"Yo. I guess it did ring a bell."

"Hmpf. You're an illusion or someone using a transformation technique."

"I guess I should feel offended by that. So you admit that there is an illusion strong enough to fool your famous Byakugan?"

Ignoring the blond man, Hiashi turned his attention to Sarutobi and Jiraiya.

"So, what can I do for you, Hokage-sama? It is late, please forgive the guards. They are instructed to keep anyone suspicious away."

"That is no problem. We are here to talk about Hinata-chan."

Hiashi's expression went serious when Sarutobi mentioned Hinata.

"Hinata? Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing is wrong, but we would like to talk to her. Is she available?"

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but she's asleep. She has to go to the academy tomorrow." Hiashi said with a stern expression. Hinata had been missing for several days now, after that 'incident'. Maybe she had died. She probably did.

Silence for a few moments.

The tension began to build as the blond, white and gray haired men starred daggers into Hiashi's head. Jiraiya was the first to break the silence.

"I don't think she'll be going to the academy tomorrow."

"Yes, in fact, she won't be going to the academy any time soon." His sensei added.

"What do you mean by that?" Hiashi demanded. _'Have they found her dead body?'_

A kunai was pointed at Hiashi's throat from behind. Minato stood in Hiashi's shadow, holding the kunai dangerously close to his throat.

'_Hiraishin? Is he really...'_

"What we're saying here _Hiashi," _Minato made his name sound like a disease, "is that we know what happened to your daughter."

Hiashi's eyes would have widened if it weren't for ultimate body control.

"I don't know what you're talking about. My daughter is asleep in her be-"

"Which daughter do you mean!? The one who almost KILLED the older one? Because last time I checked, Hinata was a bed located in the hospital, guarded by three ANBU teams!" Minato angrily shouted at the man before him. During his time as Hokage, the Hyuuga clan was the one he had most difficulties with.

Hiashi couldn't control it anymore, his eyes simply widened. This looked quite funny, due to the Hyuuga having white eyes and most Hyuugas wouldn't let such an expression of imperfection play across their face.

"What?"

Hiruzen decided to let the clan leader know that they knew of the abuse.

"We know what your clan has done to Hinata. Uchiha Sasuke found her dragging herself towards the Ramen stand where she was supposed to meet Uzumaki Naruto. Fortunately, Jiraiya, Minato and I were there at that time and we've noticed the pain your daughter was in and were able to immediately bring her into the hospital. She would have died within the day if we hadn't noticed her condition. After some time we were able to make her tell us the truth and that your clan Elders would kill her if she told the story to anyone. Does that sound familiar? Making the Branch Family attack her? Ordering her baby sister to finish her off? Leaving her on the ground to die?"

If Hiashi's face would have turned even whiter, but sadly, Hyuuga males have the curse of being rather pale.

After Hiashi regained his composure, he came with a rather lame answer.

"That's none of your business."

"Hell yeah it is. You mistreated a child; she's 11 years old for Kami's sake!" Jiraiya shouted.

"It's my duty as the Hokage to protect the villagers and ninja alike. I'm doing my job."

"So pathetic Hinata cried and went to the Hokage, huh?"

The group looked towards the newcomer. Or better, the group. Minato pushed Hiashi away and stood beside his sensei.

They were now facing the rest of the Main Family, including the Hyuuga elders. The man who spoke was obviously the eldest Elder.

"What if she did?"

"Pah. That just proves that she's even more pathetic then we assumed. We didn't she just die? It would ease her pain."

Minato became really angry. "I'm glad that we've cast a genjutsu over this compound. So that everything that happens in here," he pulled out several kunai, "also stays in here."

The Hyuuga saw that as an offence and formed a circular formation around the trio. Each of them was an adult member of the Main Family. They would have to be careful. Gentle Fist is deadly. That's a fact.

The elder spoke again.

"Do you really want to fight us? We easily overpower you. You won't stand a chance. Retreat now and hand over that little brat and we'll act as if nothing ever happened." Confidence was evident in his voice.

"Overpower us? Ok, you may have 50 people or something, but we aren't your ordinary ninja..."

The Elder shook his head. "Jiraiya, the Hokage, and an unnamed blond person. We are 75 of Konoha's best fighters. Not even you stand a chance.

"We will see." And with that, the three started to perform seals at an extremely high speed. Many pairs of Byakugans were activated. The Hyuuga attacked.

"**Earth Release: Divine Spikes!"**

Sarutobi placed his hands on the ground. Several large spikes formed from stone shot out of the earth, forcing several Hyuugas to evade. Minato and Jiraiya had their own problems. They couldn't get too close, otherwise they could fall victim to the Gentle Fist.

Minato jumped into the air.

"**Fire Style: Great Fireball!"**

The large fireball shot towards the Hyuuga. A few jumped out of the way but two used the Kaiten to deflect the attack. When their spin ended with the fire ball, Minato appeared between the two who had used the defensive jutsu, unleashing a flurry of taijutsu attacks, quickly knocking them unconscious.

The ones who jumped away were taken care of by Jiraiya. He created a clone which charged the three Hyuuga.

"**Needle Guardian!"** Shouted the clone as his hair began to from a protective shield around him, forcing them back. One of the Hyuugas jumped over the clone, intending to somehow attack him from behind. But Minato had other plans and threw his six pointed shuriken at the Hyuuga, effectively cutting him in several places, making him scream in pain. The Kekkei Genkai user managed to turn around and found himself standing directly in front in Minato.

"You are ninja of the Main House? An ELITE? How pathetic!" The last thing the Hyuuga saw was an elbow rushing towards his face...

Meanwhile, Jiraiya had appeared behind the other two Hyuuga, using a Rasengan to 'dispose' of them. He nodded towards Minato and the two ran to provide back for Sarutobi. But apparently, he didn't need backup.

"**Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!"**

The rather elderly man unleashed waves of shuriken at the enemy. Minato took the chance and started to throw kunai into random directions.

"Time to get serious."

"**Hiraishin no Jutsu!"**

Minato appeared in a small group of Hyuuga. They looked shocked when Minato stood next to them, grinning.

"How's it goin? Good? Well, that's about to change!"

Minato grabbed two heads, smashing them into another. The third tried to hit him with a Jyuuken strike. He almost succeeded. But Minato caught the hand just before it connected with his face and dislocated the arm in one fluid movement. The Hyuuga screamed, and Minato didn't feel too bad about it.

"Feeling a little sore in the arm? Guess how Hinata felt, you worthless piece of scum." He turned in order to see how his sensei and his sensei's sensei were doing. Not too good.

The Elders have decided to join the battle, feeling very confident in their abilities. Hiruzen and Jiraiya were dodging like crazy and didn't have time to focus chakra and do a jutsu. They were too many! Minato used his Body Flicker and stoped a Hyuuga in time. If he'd arrived a second later then he could have watched brain liquid leaving Jiraiya's skull.

The fourth pulled out two kunai. The group now stood back to back, forming a small triangular formation.

'_Damn, they are too many. We underestimated them. What now..."_

The leader of the Hyuuga Council ordered the others to halt.

"It seems that it is your destiny to die here. You had the chance to run, but you didn't take it. We Hyuuga are the most powerful, not even living legends can stop us."

Minato, Jiraiya and Hiruzen prepared themselves.

"Minato, I think you'll have to get us out of here."

"Yeah, if it gets critical."

The Hyuugas charged.

"**EAT THIS SHIT, MOTHERFUCKERS!"**

"**KITSUNE SHOCKWAVE!"**

A red something shot from the sky, crashing into the ground, sending Hyuugas flying. When the smoke cleared could see the person they'd least expected to save them.

Namikaze Naruto had arrived.

**A/N.**

**IF YOU THINK THAT THE FIGHT WAS CRAPPY, I DON'T CARE. THE REAL FIGHT ENDS NEXT CHAPTER.... Hehe.**

**Please Review. Tnx.**

**-Mat**


	7. Graudation!

**Meh... A/N at the end of the chapter. Please Read. It's VERY FUCKING important.**

Chapter 6: Graduation.

-

Naruto flashed an unrealistic wide grin.

"Heroes always show up in the last moment!" He shouted, giving a good-guy pose.

"Naruto?" Minato asked in disbelief.

'_That chakra... it's very sinister. I never thought I'd feel it again... but it's definitely the Nine Tail's chakra.' _Jiraiya thought to himself.

"That was pretty cool, wasn't it?" Naruto asked in a casual tone.

Minto accusingly pointed one finger at his son.

"You are supposed to be in bed!"

"And you are supposed to dominate these punks and kick ass! It's just a stupid bunch of stuck up white eyed freaks! You," Naruto pointed at Minato and Hiruzen, "are two HOKAGES for Kami's sake! And you are probably just as strong!" Exclaimed the young blond as he pointed at each individual member of the group.

Silence for a few moments. Jiraiya rubbed his chin and nodded.

"He does have a point..."

"Hell yeah I do! My dad has fought a whole army on his own!"

"But we're trying not to cause any casualties!" Minato said defensively. He knew his son was right, but wouldn't give him the pleasure of knowing that he was.

"Who gives? Kyuubi says that they're trying to kill you, so you might as well fight back!"

The Hyuuga which were sent flying recovered and got back up. Naruto's epic shockwave knocked out at least ten of them. They formed a circle around the four and were obviously confused by the young boy with red chakra swirling around him, who just happened to create a massive crater in the ground and sent some of their men flying.

Not quite caring about Naruto, the Hyuuga's readied themselves for another attack. This should be their final attack and kill these intruders.

"**Kit, they're about to attack."**

"_Wow, thanks Captain Obvious! I really couldn't see that myself!"_

"**I could throw some really hard insults... But I have to warn you."**

"_What?"_

"**Even if my chakra makes you lots faster and stronger, your body won't be able to keep this up for too long. We have to end this quickly."**

"_What do you mean?"_

Kyuubi sighed. **"What I'm trying to say, you are simply too young to fight for too long. It would kill you, so we need to kick some ass and get out of here."**

"_Alright, kick ass and get out! Got it, let's go!"_

Minato, Hiruzen and Jiraiya entered combat stances.

"Alright, I hate to admit it, but young Naruto is right." Jiraiya said.

The Hyuugas charged, several Byakugan flaring to life.

Jiraiya formed a set of hand seals.

"**Earth Release! Earthquake!"**

The ground below the Hyuuga started shaking wildly, making some fall over or loose balance. The more skilled Hyuugas evaded by jumping, but Jiraiya's attack was only part of an effective combination.

Minato's hands formed seals at top speed. _'Just like old times....'_

"**Wind Style! Tornado!"**

The Namikaze stretched his arms towards the sky, closing his eyes. The wind started to get stronger, a lot stronger. After a few moments, a miniature tornado was created sending Hyuugas flying. The ones that didn't get blown away managed to get close to them and engage them in close combat.

"**Naruto, whatever you do, don't get hit by them! It'll hurt like crap and reduce the amount of chakra you can release!"**

Using his new speed, Naruto leaped backwards, thinking how he could make something that could go 'boom'.

"_Any ideas, fox?"_

"**Oh yeah..."**

"**Kitsune Arts! Tail Tornado!"**

The chakra surrounding Naruto took the form of several tails. Naruto, without actually wanting to, started to rotate around his own axis, creating a tornado like shape with 'tail-extension'. This technique was rather useful, for it could be used as an either offensive or defensive technique. Moving into the general direction of the Hyuuga, Nartuo's tails managed to hit some Hyuugas who were not using their Kekkei Genkai.

The fighting continued for another few minutes, until Naruto could start to feel the stain of Kyuubi's chakra on his young body. He knew that he was about to reach his limit, but this time, the fight was in their favour. The three Legends didn't hesitate to unleash powerful jutsu and were dominating the cruel clan. Minato was using his prized Flying Thunder God technique, Jiraiya was spitting fire and any other thing he could manage to somehow spit at the Hyuugas. The Third mainly used his Earth Style jutsu, but would mix them with some Fire Style jutsus or some shuriken waves.

To Naruto's relief, the fight was quickly heading towards its end. Only a few Hyuugas were still standing, one of them the leading Elder. Naruto regrouped with the other members of their assault squad.

"Who's facing destiny now, huh!?" Naruto spat at the Elder.

"Pah! You are just some worthless scum, just like that bitch Hinata-"The Elder angrily replied, or screamed to be more precise. But he was interrupted, by something very painful...

Before Minato, Hiruzen or Jiraiya could react, Naruto appeared in front of the Hyuuga in a red blur. The young blond crouched and thrust his knee straight into the man's stomach, making him cough up blood and bend over. Naruto grabbed the back of his head and pulled his hair towards the ground, making the whole scene look like an execution.

"My little friend told me to keep the best for last." Naruto's voice changed, it was deeper and very close to sounding evil.

Naruto's eyes were red.

He pulled his arm back, his fingers starting to form into a semi-claw. His fingernails extended, looking very sharp and deadly.

Minato was first to realise what was happening.

"Naruto, STOP!" But Naruto was oblivious to his father's voice. His claw came down in a blur. Blood splattered.

--

A knock could be heard at the door. Hinata's eyes slowly opened. Rubbing her eyes tiredly, she sat up and looked at the opening door. The Third walked into her hospital room, looking very tired. Just if he just came back from a massive fight or something.

"Good morning, Hinata." He said with a rather tired smile.

"U-u-h... Good morning... Hokage-sama." The injured Hyuuga heiress replied.

"Well... Some 'unfortunate' events happened, so we have to transfer you to a safer location immediately."

"Safer location?" She asked, not quite sure how to take the news. Sure, she was pretty tired of being in the hospital for the whole time, but what did the Hokage consider a 'safer' location?

"Oh, don't worry. You'll LOVE the place where we're going." The Hokage said with a reassuring smile.

Hinata then noticed the package the old man held in his hands. Hiruzen placed the package next to the flowers on the small table adjacent to her bed.

"Here is something for you to wear. After you've changed, we'll head of to our destination."

Hiruzen left her room. Before Hinata started to change her attire, she wondered where she was going to stay until she made a complete recovery.

Naruto sat in his kitchen, doing what the only thing he had ever done while being in the kitchen - eating ramen. After what he considered a small breakfast, 20 bowls to be somewhat precise, he got changed.

In his mind, he replayed the events of last night. But strangely enough, the last thing the remembered was how his mind was flooded with anger when that Hyuuga bastard called Hinata a bitch. To add to that strangeness, Kyuubi no Baka and his dad were rather quiet today.

Inside Naruto's mind, Minato and Kyuubi weren't quite sure if Naruto remembered what he'd done... or almost done. Not wanting Naruto to hear their conversation, Minato created what he called a 'mental barrier'. He had thought of this concept quite some time now and thought that now was a good time to try whether his theory was correct. And, surprisingly, he was correct. When he first tried to focus on isolating the two, nothing had happened. Kyuubi came with the idea to try setting up a barrier from the outside. Minato thought about it and tried.

He succeeded.

There was a large, transparent wall standing in front of their cage now. The only reason they knew it actually was there, was due to the glowing symbols on the barrier, which said 'barrier'.

Kyuubi wanted to check if the barrier was actually working, and so started to run riot and flood Naruto's mind with pictures of naked women in some very suggestive poses. Nothing happened.

Now being sure that the barrier worked, Minato opened the conversation.

"What happened?"

"**Huh?"**

"During the fight, Naruto almost killed that guy! Why didn't Naruto respond? Why didn't he stop?"

"**I'm not sure, human. I think that my amazingly cool chakra amplifies certain emotions. He's young, so he never really had to control his emotions to such an extent. I guess he just cracked when he heard that Hyuuga say that his girlfriend's a bitch."**

"That would make sense... We have to a lot more careful when we use your chakra."

"**Well, it could also be that he has a hard time controlling my chakra. I'm a demon, so my chakra is rather sinister, making it very hard for a human to control it and stop if from making his emotions stronger than they really are. We have to work on his control with my chakra. He needs to be able to access it with pure willpower and control it. I'm a demon, so my chakra naturally makes a human's negative emotions stronger."**

After processing the information he had just received from his fellow prisoner, Minato thought about the chances of Naruto going berserk again.

"Yes, we have to make him understand just how dangerous the usage of your power is. But if he gains very good control over it, then one day he may be able to use your chakra as easy as his natural chakra, without fearing of losing control..."

"**That whelp shows a lot of talent. But he's a long way from controlling my chakra with such ease."**

"Indeed... Now I guess I have to go and tell him who'll be staying over for a while..."

Minato dispelled the mental barrier and told Naruto to relax so that he could materialise in the form of a bushin.

**A few minutes later...**

"???????? ARE YOU SERIOUS??" A certain blond enigma screamed. The decibel level of that scream was easily loud enough for the whole village to hear.

Hinata was walking next to the village leader. They were walking at a slow pace, due to Hinata still being weak and not having fully recovered yet.

After some time walking, they arrived at their destination. Hinata had never been in this area before, so took in everything she saw. There were some small shops and little stands selling food. As they walked down what seemed to be the main road, they came closer to a few apartment buildings.

Sarutobi helped Hinata climb the stairs. The pair reached the third floor and walked down a hallway towards their destination.

"Uh... I will be... staying in an apartment?" She asked in a shy manner.

"Yes, and you will have people protecting you."

"Protecting... me?"

"Yes, people are after you."

"...Who?"

Hiruzen looked at her for a few seconds and sighed.

"People from your clan."

"Oh... H-have they f-found out about... me... telling you?" Hinata was on the verge of tears. Her OWN clan was willing to kill her only because she searched for help!

"Yes..."

The old man stopped in front of a door. He knocked a few times, and the two waited until the door opened, only to reveal a pair of bright blue eyes and a blond mop of hair.

Hinata found herself inside Naruto's apartment. The Yondaime had moved Naruto's somewhat comfy bed to the side, right next to the wall. The Sandaime had revealed a scroll which had an additional bed sealed inside. He unsealed the bed and with combined effort, they moved it adjacent to Naruto's bed.

"Alright, Hinata will sleep here." Hiruzen explained, pointing at the new bed.

Naruto sighed. This was had been a very troublesome day so far, and it wasn't even lunch time yet.

"Remind me why Hinata is staying with us?" The blond enigma whined. He tried to hide it, but it felt somewhat... strange to have Hinata over. Actually, he thought it would be quite nice, he would get to talk to Hinata and spend some time with her. Of course, he'd never admit that, not even for ramen. Okay, maybe for a LOT of ramen, but not under normal circumstances.

"Hey, you want Hinata to stay in the hospital and get killed?" His father asked.

"No! I'd never want that!" Naruto quickly replied. There was no way he'd put his best friend's life on the line if he could do something about.

"Well. Then you have the reason why she stays."

Again, Naruto sighed. "Well, then at least explain why she has to stay in my room?"

"Because she could be attacked at _any_ given second." Hiruzen explained, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

With that, the old man left the three, waving one last time before he left Naruto's apartment through the door.

Hinata was unsure of what to do. _'Does Naruto-kun really think that it's annoying that I'm here? Am I a burden to him?'_ A loud growl came from Naruto's stomach. Grinning sheepishly, he made his way to the kitchen to find some... ramen. How unpredictable.

Naruto searched his kitchen for his favourite ramen, but unfortunately, he had consumed all his remaining ramen for breakfast.

"Dad, I'm out of ramen! I'll go to the supermarket and get some!" He announced and made his way to the door.

"Wait Naruto!" Minato said from the living room. Naruto came back and looked at his dad with a questioning expression.

"What?"

"You're not only going to get ramen, right?"

"Huh? Of course I'm only going to get ramen! It's the best, dattebayo!"

"Well, I guess it's time that I go and do the shopping."

"Why? I'll be back in five minutes; you stay and watch over Hinata-chan!"

"That's exactly why I'm going instead of you. Hinata will be staying with us for an unspecified amount of time, meaning that we will also have to take care of her. You can't expect her to live of ramen until then. And by the way, other food will do you good too."

"I don't want other food! I've always eaten ramen, and I don't plan on stopping to!"

"I'm not telling you to give up on ramen. But you have to eat other food than that!"

"NO!"

"Well, then you might as well give up on becoming Hokage! A Hokage has to be strong and you can only get strong and healthy by eating the right food! I didn't become Hokage by eating ramen only! Sure, I love it and could eat some anywhere anytime, but I also ate a lot of other good stuff."

Minato knew that he'd hit a soft spot with that statement.

"OH MY GOD, OTHER FOOD SOUNDS REALLY GOOD! HURRY AND GET SOME SO I CAN BECOME HOKAGE!"

Hinata, who had remained silent until now, couldn't help herself and laugh a bit. With that, Minato left the apartment, closing the door behind him. Silence fell upon the two. Naruto went to the couch and sat next to Hinata.

"Hey, Hinata." He slowly started. The young girl turned her head towards him. "I was wondering... Can I ask a personal question?"

Hinata hadn't expected Naruto to ask her something like that. Actually, she didn't even think that he'd ask for permission to ask a personal question, but instead just ask anyway.

"Of course Naruto-kun."

"Uh... I was wondering... do you... like me?"

Kyuubi quickly established a mental barrier and went on a berserk dance.

Hinata's eyes widened at that straightforward question. He had asked her whether she liked him or not. '_Ah! What am I supposed to do? Think, think, think!' _Somewhere, deep inside Hinata, the resolve to tell him that she liked him started to establish. She slowly opened her mouth to tell him the words that would change her and his life in an instant.

But she wouldn't get the chance to. Not now.

Kyuubi immediately felt that something was out of place. The red furred animal... demon... was currently in the act of doing some epic dancing. As he chanted the lines, **"Rock this party! Dance everybody! Make it hot in this party... don't stop, move yer body...," **a sudden killing intent spiked somewhere close by. The feared demon quickly dispelled the mental barrier. He looked to his side at checked if Minato was still there.

Minato was sitting outside the cage. He sat on the ground, his legs crossed, his arms placed on his legs. The former Hokage made a concentrated impression on the kitsune.

'_**Every time he materialises in the form of a clone, he takes this meditating position. I think I could whack him and he wouldn't notice...'**_

But currently, the kitsune had more important things to deal with. A wave of killing intent had just been released, and whoever intended to draw some blood today was very close by. _Too _close for Kyuubi's liking. Of course, he wouldn't mind... Killing some weaklings was fun, but his container was pretty much useless on his own. And if he had to use his youki **(demonic chakra) **then he'd attract even more attention.

Kyuubi extended his senses. Two figures were approaching. It seems as if they were looking for something. _**'Or some**_**body.**'

Hinata was about to say something, but a loud noise made the two academy students freeze. Naruto's front door had been reduced to nothing but rubble. The two pre-teens jumped at the sudden noise. Naruto's hands immediately reached for his kunai pouch, but unfortunately, the weapon holster was sealed within the small sealing scroll which was in his jumper's pouch, which again was in the living room.

The intruders stood where his door once was, waiting for the cloud of dust to settle. Naruto reacted fast. He grabbed Hinata by her jacket and shoved her into his closet, closing the doors.

'_What the hell is going on? Who are they?? What do they want? Are they after Hinata? Or me?'_

The blonds mind was racing as the dust cloud started to fade. To his surprise, two men in white robes entered his room, making Naruto shift into a defensive position instantly. Naruto knew he wouldn't stand a chance against a trained ninja, but he'd give it all he had to defend the person he valued most.

'_Grr, I won't let them take Hinata-chan!'_

Kyuubi was impressed with Naruto's determination and was still trying to figure out how to help the number one most surprising ninja. Just then, Naruto noticed something.

'_Their eyes... They're from the Hyuuga clan!'_ Realisation struck Naruto as he watched the men entered the room, their cold eyes glaring at him as if he were a cockroach which had to be exterminated in the slowest and most painful way.

"What the hell do you want!?" Naruto practically screamed at the duo. The Hyuuga just continued to give him cold, indifferent and hateful gazes. After some moments of eerie silence, the taller one spoke up.

"What we want is..." He started.

"...Your head." The other finished.

Naruto growled. So they were after him, not Hinata. Maybe he could distract them so that they wouldn't notice her.

Kyuubi on the other hand prepared himself for an all out battle against these two. They would not stand a chance against his wrath. The demon would slice them into pieces, pound them into the ground and incinerate them so that not even their ashes would remain. Just as he readied himself to flood Naruto's chakra system with his youki, he felt some other presence reveal itself.

The Hyuuga got ready to kill Naruto and take his head back to their Elders. Then, they would be seen as heroes in their clan and in the village. Heroes which corrected the biggest flaw in society.

Rushing towards Naruto, the taller one pulled back his arm, intending to finish Naruto with one full powered Jyuuken strike to the head. But his amazement, he suddenly felt a certain numbness spreading from his torso. The numb feeling quickly spread, making him completely immobile.

His brother was just as confused. As he wanted to move forward, he felt something press against his throat, making him freeze. As he looked down to his neck, he found the blade of VERY sharp looking Katana press against his skin. The Hyuuga may not have been the smartest person in the world, but he knew that this very sword would cut straight through his neck if he dared to move.

Naruto was just as confused as the two attackers, so he thought out loud.

"What the hell is going on now!? I'm being attacked, and this nutcase just drops dead? What's next? Is free ramen starting to fall from the sky?"

A person started to chuckle lightly. Naruto looked around a saw the owner of the voice. And to his surprise, it was none other than the ANBU captain which had guard duty in the Hokage's office when Naruto exposed the two guards.

"No Naruto-san, it's not raining ramen yet." The man said in a friendly tone.

"It's you! The guy from old man's office! What are you doing here?" Naruto was astounded.

"We were appointed by the Hokage to guard you and Hinata-san, due to the high possibility of assassination attempts, just like this one." Just then, three ANBU appeared seemingly out of nowhere. They wore the standard Anbu attire, each of them had a katana strapped to their backs.

Previously friendly, the ANBU's voice suddenly sounded very cold.

"I think we should bring these two to the Hokage. He shall decide their fate." He spoke as two of his teammates placed special chakra enhanced cuffs around the two Hyuuga's wrists. Having to carry one of the Hyuuga, the two Anbu left, leaving the other two help Naruto to fix his door. Fixing the door was pretty much impossible because there was little to nothing left of it. Fortunately, the Anbu captain knew someone called Yamato and sent a messenger bird out to inform Yamato that his assistance was needed. After some waiting, Yamato arrived and created a new front door for Naruto's apartment. Naruto was obviously impressed with Yamato's ability to create wood with chakra. Just after Yamato left, Naruto remembered something.... Hinata was still 'hidden' in his closet.

The ANBU wondered where Naruto rushed off to, and upon further inspection he found the blond enigma help the young Hyuuga heiress exit his closet.

The shy Hyuuga blushed madly when the blonde, who she had a mountain sized crush on, touched her hands to help her get out of his closet. You didn't have to be a Nara genius to see the affection she had for the blonde, so the ANBU immediately knew that she saw more than a friend in Naruto. But Naruto seemed to be somewhat oblivious to that, so the ANBU just sighed and shook his head. Seeing that his job was done, he and his teammate left Naruto's apartment to continue their duty of keeping an eye on the surrounding area.

Hinata sat down on her bed and could easily pass as a ripe tomato in that moment. Naruto was holding her hand the whole way to her bed, which she found VERY comforting. She could have walked the few steps by herself, but Naruto silently insisted to lend a helping hand.

'_His hands... they feel so nice!' _Shot through the Hyuuga heiress' mind.

"Are you alright, Hinata-chan?" The boy with azure blue eyes asked, concern evident in every word.

"Y-yes, N-naruto-kun." Hinata answered, reviving her old habit as she stuttered helplessly.

"Ahh Hinata, you're stuttering again!"

This, of course, lead to Hinata blushing even more. Jeez, her head was about to explode from all the unnecessary blood. "S-sorry..."

"Don't be. Hey, did I ever tell you that you look kinda cute when you blush like that?" The most surprising ninja in Konoha asked.

Hinata fainted.

--

Days passed and Hinata's condition improved steadily. Minato managed to convince Naruto that it would be a good thing to improve his grades so that he could be paired up with Sasuke and Hinata upon graduation.

There were only a few weeks left until the Genin exams started and Naruto planned on improving his grades so he could prove that he wasn't the dumb nut everyone thought he was. Every day after school, Naruto would return home and have lunch with Hinata. The ramen addict had a hard time reducing his amount of ramen consumption, but the tasty food he learned to cook with Hinata's assistance made up for it.

As the exams came closer and closer, the assassination attempts became more and more frequent. Three ANBU teams were present at all times. The assassins were mostly sent by the Hyuuga Clan. There were a few exceptions because some villagers somehow found out that there was a young girl living with the 'demon brat'. They would get drunk and try to attack Naruto's apartment, without any success. They screamed that the 'demon brat' should release the poor, young and innocent 'hostage' and would attack the apartment because he "will rape her".

These foolish attacks only enraged Minato further, but Naruto didn't give two shits; he just ignored them. The hateful glares also intensified whenever he would walk the streets and would eventually send icy shivers down the Kyuubi Host's spine.

After two weeks, a medic team arrived at Naruto's apartment in order to check Hinata's condition. It took them an hour for the full check while Naruto nervously paced back and forth in the kitchen. The door to his bedroom opened revealing the medic team and Hinata. Naruto's eyes shinned brightly when she smiled at him, saying all he needed to know.

"Her injuries are fully healed. She will feel a bit stiff but that will wear off after a day." Was everything the head medic said, without any emotion in his voice. The team disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving Naruto and Hinata alone in the apartment.

Naruto felt the need to say something, but his hands quickly formed a short set of hand seals. A small 'poof' came with the small cloud of smoke, revealing another blonde haired male, looking like a grown up version of the infamous prankster.

"Oh, hey dad. Hinata's healed now! Will she still be staying with us?" The enthusiastic preteen asked.

Naruto wasn't sure whether he'd like Hinata to stay for longer. The time he spent with Hinata was very joyful, and he enjoyed her presence greatly. She accepted him for who he was, which earned her his respect. But on the other side, he didn't know if she enjoyed hanging around him as much as he did.

"I'm not sure, Naruto. Maybe she will. I highly doubt that she can just walk back into her clan's complex and act as if nothing had happened." Minato said and frowned a bit.

Naruto just sighed and started to prepare lunch.

After some consideration, the Hokage decided to let Hinata live with her object of affection for an unspecified amount of time. They couldn't let her back home, for that would be rather hazardous. Moving her into her own apartment also wasn't the best idea, due to the assassination attempts. Who else would be a better bodyguard than a demon container and the probably strongest of all kages?

Hinata started to go the academy again. Of course, it didn't take long for rumours about her living together with a certain infamous prankster, failed assassination attempts and all other sorts of weird stuff. The two did their best to ignore the ridiculous rumours, which wasn't that easy. Fortunately, the amount of rumours started to lessen as the Genin exams came closer and closer which the students focused all their attention on.

And then... it came. Unannounced but expected. Yes, it had to come at some stage. It was the day of the graduation exams.

Of course, saying that Naruto was nervous was saying that the sky is kinda blue. **(Who ever can guess what story I took that from gets a cookie!)**

He woke up a minute before his and Hinata's alarm clock would go off, so he sat up, his eyes wandering over to the person in the adjacent bed. Naruto expected to find a sleeping Hyuuga, but instead he found a pair of lavender eyes look right back at him. Sheepishly grinning he greeted his... roommate.

"Good mornin', Hinata-chan!"

"Hello, Naruto-kun."

"You ready for today?"

"I... think so. H-how about you?"

"I think I can do it. Now that I know how to perform a henge and a bushin. I prepare breakfast and you shower first, ok?"

"Okay."

That said, the duo split up, Hinata making her way to the bathroom while Naruto prepared breakfast. 15 minutes later, the pleasant aroma of fresh bread spread into every room of the apartment. Hinata came out of the bathroom and had a healthy and very tasty meal with her object of affection. After they finished, Naruto went into the bathroom to freshen up while Hinata did the dishes. When the two were ready they left the apartment and made their way to the academy.

The students were individually called into a room opposite of Naruto's class room. They would have to perform the basic ninja techniques, such as the clone technique. Every time a person came back, a set of emotions were displayed on their faces. Some showed confidence; others looked worried, while some lazy ass genius looked as if he couldn't care less.

Iruka called Hinata's name, and the girl visibly flinched. She sat next to Naruto and stood up. Standing up, she intended to walk out that door and do her best, but Naruto grabbed her hand before she could. A blush crept up her face when she felt him gently turn her around.

"Good luck Hinata-chan!"

"T-t-thank you, Naruto-kun..."

"Just go and do your best! I know you can do it."

"O-okay... Thank you... Naruto-kun."

"I know that you and I will pass, and then we'll be on the same team!" Naruto said with a confident tone. Even if he didn't end up on the same team as her, he would still see her as his dearest friend and would do everything in his power to spend as much time with her as he possibly could.

Hinata nodded and left the room. Minutes passed, and the Namikaze started to slightly become anxious. He just wanted her to come back and tell him how she did. _'Is she alright? I hope so. I really hope she'll make it. Wait, what the heck am I thinking? Of course she will make it! That's Hinata-chan in there! She survived assassination attempts and was beat close to being dead! She's strong, hell yeah she can make it!'_

Another few moments passed, and Hinata finally returned. And surprisingly, the shy girl wore a confident and bright smile. The heir to the Hyuuga clan made her way back Naruto and sat beside him.

"Hinata-chan! How did you do? Was it hard?" Naruto asked in his usual happy tone.

"Iruka-sensei said I did a wonderful job. It's not hard at all, Naruto-kun! You can do it too." She replied.

"Uzumaki Naruto." A bored chunin instructor announced. Naruto stood up and made started to make his way to the door.

"Good luck, Naruto-kun." Hinata said quietly. But Naruto heard her, loud and clear. So he nodded and walked towards the door. As he passed Kiba, he heard him quietly mutter something. Kiba thought the blonde couldn't hear him, but unfortunately, he could.

'_Hah. I'll make him eat those words.'_

Naruto decided against replying and entered the room where he would be assessed. Iruka, Mizuki and two other chunin teachers sat behind a table. The table and the chairs were the only pieces of furniture in the room.

"Alright Naruto. You ready?" Iruka asked. Even though he wasn't supposed to favour any students, he really couldn't force the thoughts of concern from his mind. Naruto had failed so many times. He truly wished that the kid would pass this time.

"As ready as I'll ever be, sensei." Naruto replied in his usual voice.

"Ok. Perform the Henge." Mizuki instructed.

'_Alright. Here goes nothing.'_

"**Break a leg, kit."**

Naruto performed the necessary hand signs and channelled his chakra into the jutsu. Random smoke appeared, concealing him from view for a few seconds. As the smoke cleared, a perfect replica of the Hokage appeared, including the hat and cloak. The chunin instructors nodded approvingly and Naruto dispelled the transformation.

"Very good, Naruto. Proceed with the Bushin." Iruka instruced. _'He actually managed a good transformation. His grades have also been improving by a great deal, he's risen from being dead last to be one of the best this class has to offer. And all that within a few weeks. Very impressive, Naruto._

Again, Naruto went through the required seals and performed the jutsu. Next to him, an identical clone of him appeared. Unlike all the previous times, the instructors didn't have to endure the sight of a crippled, pale and simply ugly clone. And again, the instructors nodded in approval. None of them particularly liked Naruto, but they weren't professionals for no reason. They managed to set aside their dislike for him and thought that the faster he left the academy, the less trouble they had to go through each year.

"Nice. Now, substitute with that log over there." Iruka said, pointing at a log on the other side of the room. Naruto closed his eyes and went through the substitution jutsu with ease. All the work with his father and Baka no Kyuubi was really paying off. And that was not all. Naruto had managed to learn a few jutsu from his dad.

"Impressive, Naruto. You may leave; we will announce the ones that pass in a short while." His favourite teacher said. Naruto had a ridiculously large grin plastered to his face as he entered his class room and made his way up to Hinata.

"Naruto-kun! How did you go?" She asked, but the answer was rather obvious.

"Awesome! I managed everything with ease! I'm sure I'll pass, Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei said that I was very impressive!" Naruto told her with an excited voice.

--

It didn't take long for the instructors to finalise the results. The students sat in their seats as Iruka entered the class room. And for once during the past years of teaching, he didn't have to shout around in order to make the students to be quiet.

"Alright everyone. First off, I'd like to say that I am really proud of each and every one of you. Most of you have worked hard. Many of you have passed, some haven't. But don't worry, there is always a chance next year. From tomorrow on, you will be a part of the real shinobi world and will face its hazards day in and out. Each of you will put their life on the line for the sake of the village and its people and you have to be ready to leave your life for the village. Yes, that sounds very scary and dangerous, but you don't have to worry yet. You won't have to go and fight against other shinobi tomorrow already. You will also have your team backing you up, and a strong sensei that will guide you along your path as a proud shinobi of Konohagakure. Working with your team will be vital, but you'll learn that soon enough. Now, I shall announce the names of those who passed. Those called, will come forth and stand here in a straight line so that I can give you your well deserved hitai-ite."

After Iruka's speech, he started to call out the names of the ones who had displayed enough skill to pass.

"Nara Shikamaru."

"Oh man what a drag." Shikamaru complained as he walked down to Iruka.

"Aburame Shino."

Shino didn't show any visible reaction, he simply walked down and stood next to Shikamaru who somehow managed to take a nap while standing.

This continued for some time. Names were called. Sasuke was called. The last loyal Uchiha smirked a bit when his name was called.

"Hyuuga Hinata." Her eyes lit up and Naruto gave her a bright smile. And shortly after her...

"And last, but not least, Uzumaki Naruto." Even though he tried, Iruka could not hide the little happiness in his voice. Naruto was bursting with happiness and pride.

All of them stood in a straight line, facing Iruka. Iruka reached into a drawer and produced a stack of Konoha forehead protectors and started to hand them to each of the students, who started to equip them. Some placed them around their foreheads, some around their necks.

When Naruto got his, he placed it around his forehead and smiled like he'd never smiled before. The forehead protector immediately felt like a part of him and Naruto was proud to be able to show everyone his loyalty to his home village.

When everyone was done, Iruka spoke up. "Congratulations, everyone! You can all go home now; your parents will probably be waiting outside. Be here at 9 am tomorrow for the team announcements."

He didn't have to tell them twice. All of the newly appointed Genin left the academy building, and the ones who did not manage to graduate quickly left to avoid any humiliation. Naruto and Hinata left the Academy walking next to another.

Once they reached the entrance, they were amazed by the sheer amount of people standing outside, congratulating the pre-teens which were somehow related to them. A hint of sadness entered Naruto's mind as he realised that not a single soul would be waiting for him and offer him congratulations for him finally passing the graduation exam. Sighing, he stepped outside and made sure to stand close to Hinata. Just as he predicted, many people stared at the Namikaze as if he'd grown a few tails and a second head. Their surprise vanished and was replaced by anger or frowns as their cold and rejecting eyes spotted his newly acquired hitai-ite.

Hinata's lavender eyes scanned the crowd as he hoped to find a member of her clan waiting for her, either to congratulate or kill her. To both her relief and disappointment, she did not find any, so she turned to see what Naruto was doing. The blonde was just standing next to her, and she could, just for a tiny moment, see his mask slip. The sadness shined through for a second, but then was replaced with a faked grin. Then he started to head over the tree with the wooden swing near the academy entrance. Naruto sat down on the swing and performed a hand sign. In a poof, Minato appeared, brightly smiling at his son. He hugged him and roughed up his hair.

"Son, you can't imagine how proud I am. You will be finest shinobi this village will ever see."

Naruto naturally smiled as at his dad's encouragement, but he was still a bit doubtful. "You think so, dad?"

"Of course. You will be the best Hokage and prove everyone that you're not what they think you are."

"Thanks dad. But... argh, never mind." Even though he tried to hide it, Minato knew that something was bothering his son.

Minato gently placed his hand on his son's shoulder and lowered himself to his height. "What's bothering you?"

Naruto was seriously thinking about saying that nothing was bothering him, but he knew his dad would see through his facade. Even if Minato only knew him properly for a short amount of time, he was reading him, his emotions and thoughts, like an open book.

"Well...," he hesitated for a second. "I remembered that I hardly have any family. You are the only relative I have, and I have known you for such a short time... And now that I mention it, I hardly know anything about you. All the memories of being rejected and being alone are still there... All the times I just wanted to have someone accept me, but all I got was cold stares and insults. And now," Naruto gestured around them, "I see all the other kids happy with their parents. They take acceptance and love for granted, while I had to wait 12 years for... well... for you."

At that point, sadness became the predominant emotion on Naruto's face. Naruto's words were right to the point.

Minato put his arms around his son. The Yondaime was just as sad. His son had to suffer for so long. And it was true, Naruto hardly knew him. But they had to let the past rest and make the best of the future.

"It's alright Naruto... I'm sorry... So sorry. I'm sorry for not being able to be there for you when you needed me and I'm sorry... for putting Kyuubi into you." Minato quietly said.

"I understand why you did it..." Naruto answered. "And I also understand that we have to let some things stay in the past... And look forward and make the best out of the future. Isn't that right, dad?"

Minato nodded. "Yes, that is what we should do. Living in the past only brings regrets and changes nothing."

Hinata was quite shocked as she watched the emotional scene unfold before her. She now felt that it was the time for her to say something. She put her hand on Naruto's shoulder and spoke up.

"And I'll also be there, Naruto-kun. You're not alone anymore, you now have a dad and a friend. That's a good start, Naruto-kun. It will only get better." She spoke in a voice clearly displaying concern for him.

"Thank you, Hinata-chan. You have no idea how much that means to me." He asked, truly meaning what he said.

"Now, let's go and get some celebration ramen!" Minato said and the trio dashed off towards Ichiraku's Ramen.

--

**Hey. New chapter, after some long fucking time. Sorry about that.**

**Not the longest chapter, but quite decent, I reckon. Tell me what you think, THANKS! REVIEWS MAKE ME REALLYYYYYYY HAPPY WOOO! COOKIES FOR EVERYONE.**

**A'ight, MAT out.**


	8. New Team! New Challenge!

Hey all. Next chapter, coming right out of the writing machine. Still hot ;)

I could come with a crappy excuse, saying this update took so long due to a f'ed up computer, but my computer is a fucking beast, so that doesn't work. But midyear exams were on, so I was up to my balls in revision work. But hey, I got a 100% for my English exam. =D

Chapter 7: New Teams! New challenges!

Naruto, Minato and Hinata sat at Ichiraku's and Naruto was shocked to find that his dad could eat just as much and just as fast as himself. No one had ever achieved such a feat. It had only been minutes since the two pre-teens had graduated from the academy.

After they finished their meal and left a hefty sum of money on the counter, the trio made their way back to Naruto's apartment. They found themselves back in Naruto's humble home and made themselves comfortable on Naruto's worn out couch and talked. The conversation mainly involved Naruto and Minato. Naruto would ask everything about his father, from what shoe size he had to how he met the legendary pervert.

But Naruto didn't, more like, he forgot, to ask if there were any other people still alive who he was related to.

Naruto forgot to ask about his mother.

--

Naruto and Hinata turned showed up in the class room just on time. Today they would be assigned their Jonin sensei who would guide them through their time as mere Genins. More and more students, all wearing a leaf forehead protector, entered the class room and gathered in little groups. The blonde haired boy and the lavender eyed girl simply sat in their standard row and were soon joined by the single survivor of a prestigious clan. The three simply enjoyed the silence as they waited for Iruka to announce their new instructor.

Iruka arrived eventually and read out the names of each team and their instructor. The last name read out was the instructor for the newly appointed team 7.

"Team seven, your Jonin is Hatake Kakashi. He should be here in... erm... about... he should be here soon." Iruka knew very much how unreliable Kakashi tended to be when it came to being on time. He couldn't just blurt out that Kakashi would probably take 3 hours to show up and the make a lame excuse, saying that he had to help a group of 100 blind men to cross the street.

The classroom emptied and it didn't take long for Sasuke, Hinata and Naruto be the only ones occupying the classroom. Another 20 minutes passed and Naruto's stomach decided to announce itself. The low grumbling noise made Hinata and Sasuke stare at the infamous prankster.

Naruto decided to voice his opinion on the whole matter. "As you can hear, I am damn hungry! Come on guys; let's head to Ichiraku's for some quality ramen!"

Sasuke shook his head in disbelief. "Dobe, we're supposed to wait here for Kakashi."

Naruto's closed his eyes and tried to put on the most serious sounding voice he could manage. "Well... He's not going to be here anytime soon. Because... Kakashi-sensei has a disease... It is so rare that hardly anyone else has it. It's lethal; it will eventually lead to Kakashi's death.

"Bull. If he had a disease so dangerous, he wouldn't be a Jonin." Sasuke retorted.

"How do you know, Sasuke-teme? Maybe he is hiding it very well..." Naruto said as he tried to sound as mysterious as possible. Unfortunately, Sasuke wasn't able to answer that question. Indeed, he didn't know if Kakashi had a disease or not. How should he, though? He hardly knew the man.

"I don't. But neither do you."

"Heh, I know for sure that Kakashi has a disease."

"And what disease would that be?"

"It's called..." Naruto started to dramatically wave around with his arms, desperately trying to increase the tension and suspense, "...CHRONIC LATENESS!"

Sasuke and Hinata sweat dropped. How unpredictable.

"You're such an idiot, dobe!" Sasuke yelled at him. This boy really knew how to push his buttons.

"Haha! But you fell for it, teme! I saw it in your eyes, you really did believe me! Anyway, let's get going. According to my rough estimations, we have about 3 hours until he gets here."

And with that, the trio made its way to Naruto's favourite restaurant. After Naruto's compulsory 10 bowl lunch, the new team made their way back to the class room. And sure enough, Kakashi was nowhere to be seen. Speaking of which, Kakashi was sitting on the rooftop of the academy, flicking through a rather known pornographic novel written by an even more famous or infamous legendary Sanin.

Kakashi looked into the sky and smiled underneath his mask. His thoughts were concerning his soon to be team and whether those three would be the first ones to be guided by him through their Genin days.

'_They are a rather interesting bunch. One of them is the host of the Kyuubi, who was supposed to be the dead last in the academy, yet I've seen him pull off moves which would put many Chunin to shame. And I still don't know how he performed the Hiraishin or Rasengan, that's something I definitely have to find out. He hardly has any friends, yet he smiles brightly and is kind hearted. Sensei, what did this innocent child do to carry the burden of being Kyuubi's container? Was there really no other way to defeat the Kyuubi? The next one is the last remaining Uchiha, who seems to have a massive problem in terms of being social, but he seems comfortable around his teammates. He's skilled, I give him that, but he'll never be at his full potential if he doesn't learn that one becomes strong by having friends to fight for. Oh Itachi, you little piece of shit. What did he do to deserve this fate? I'm quite sure that Sasuke has the potential to unlock the Sharingan and he knows some of his clans prized Katon techniques. The last one is a shy Hyuuga, who's hunted by her own clan. A Jyuuken beating which almost resulted in her death, followed by several assassination attempts. And the Hokage said that she's currently living with Naruto, which naturally enrages the villagers. Kami, what did this girl do to deserve this? She's kind, and she lost her mother at a young age, and only because she's not as cold hearted as the rest of the Hyuugas, they see her unworthy of being the clan's heir. All of them share one thing... Each of them knows what it means to be lonely. Naruto has always been rejected and hated. Sasuke's whole clan massacred, in one night. Hinata's mother taken away, by a disease, which ended in her father seeing her as a burden. And I get those kids assigned to me. Hokage-sama, what did I ever do to deserve this? Why do you believe that these kids are the ones to first pass my test of teamwork? Is it because I'm always late? So many questions, and no answerers at all. At least the Gods of Hentai are still here support me.'_

How wrong Kakashi was. Just as he got up to get to the class room where his team would be waiting, a projectile, moving at an incredible velocity, came from the sky. Before he could do something, a small splashing sound could be heard. Searching for the source of the noise, Kakashi's gaze fell upon his favourite book. His eyes almost bulged out when he saw what had happened. A bird had 'released' itself and the 'load' just happened to hit Kakashi's favourite porn. Short, Kakashi's book was covered in white bird shit.

"!!!!!!!!!!!!" The seasoned, hardened by war, Jonin instructor screamed as tears poured out of his visible eye.

--

Sasuke, Naruto and Hinata found themselves playing Hangman on the blackboard as they waited to Kakashi. Time passed and the door to the class room opened, revealing a silver haired Jonin. His eye formed an arc, resembling the famous 'eye-smile'.

"Yo! Sorry I'm late, there was this group of 100 blind men who had to cross the street, so I took it upon me to help them, that's what we Jonins-"

"LIAR!" Naruto practically screamed at him, "We know you were sitting somewhere reading your book!"

The nods of Hinata and Sasuke made Kakashi sigh. "Believe what you want; would I lie to you?" And sure enough, the general response was a round of nods.

"My first impression of you guys is... incredibly bad. Whatever. Meet me on the roof of the Hokage tower in five minutes." Kakashi vanished in a cloud of smoke.

Five minutes later, the three pre-teens arrived on the roof and to their surprise; Kakashi was actually sitting there, not reading his book, but studying them with an observant eye. He gestured them to take a seat on one of the benches, which the three did, sitting next to another, facing their newly appointed sensei.

"Alright, first of all, I'd like each of you to introduce yourself. Just say what you like, what you don't like." Kakashi started, wondering who would start off. After a minute, with no one saying a word, Sasuke started to get annoyed.

"How about you start? Show us how it's done?"

"Good idea. Alright, my name is Hatake Kakashi. I'm a Jonin, but I really don't feel like telling you guys how old I am. I like a lot of things, and dislike just as many things."

"Great, we didn't learn any more than your name and occupation." Naruto stated. He then shook his head in defeat, quickly losing faith in his sensei not being a nutcase. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I'm twelve years old and I love ramen. I used to hate the 3 minutes boiling time needed to heat up the ramen, but I found a way to reduce that to less than a minute. Now I just hate people who underestimate me and threaten my friends. I like eating ramen, training and hanging out with my friends. My dream is become the Hokage so that people would look up to me and respect me instead of treating me like trash."

Next up was Hinata. "My name is Hyuuga Hinata, I am also twelve years old. There is... actually nothing what I hate. I like spending time," Her face turned tomato style, "with Naruto-kun. My dream... is to prove to my father that people can change and become strong... And I want to... Make a certain person as happy as possible..."

Seeing that Hinata was done, Sasuke started. "I'm Uchiha Sasuke. I'm the same age as these two. I enjoy training and getting closer to my ambition. I hate fan girls and anything associated with them. My ambition is to kill a certain man, no matter what it takes."

Kakashi knew just who Sasuke was talking about. '_So, his ambition is to kill Itachi and avenge his family. He sees himself as an avenger... That's not good. Avengers are loners, ones who only fight for themselves. They are... lone wolves. I have to change his way of thought, I have to make him see how pointless it is to pursue Itachi... Jeez, I can feel the headaches coming.'_

Kakashi stopped thinking his dark thoughts and nodded. He let a moment pass before eyeing each of them carefully, studying their emotions. Naruto seemed confused at Sasuke's words, Hinata frowned a little, and Sasuke himself just stared indifferently.

"Okay, that was revealing. I'll let you guys have the rest of the day off. Meet me tomorrow at 8 in the morning at Training Grounds 7. It's near that memorial stone. Oh, and don't eat any breakfast, you'll end up vomiting it up." Kakashi instructed, smirking under his mask. This was the best part, torturing and then failing the Genins who attempted to become his team. But a little voice in the back of his mind already told him that these kids would be the ones to pass his infamous bell test and become his students. Kakashi decided on his preferred way of leaving, disappearing in a plump of smoke.

Sasuke stood up and decided to leave; he would do some training and then go to sleep. He would need his energy tomorrow, he figured.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow." Was his simple goodbye as he leapt off the roof, making his way home.

"Alright, Hinata-chan! Let's go and train!" Our favourite knuckleheaded ninja said as he grabbed her hand and led her towards his favourite training area in the forests.

--

The next day, Naruto and Hinata woke up early. They went through their normal routine, which confused Hinata to some extent. Didn't Kakashi tell them not to eat? So she decided to ask Naruto who was standing in the kitchen, preparing their meal.

"Um... Naruto-kun?" She asked, twiddling with her fingers a bit. Spending time with Naruto had helped her greatly improve confidence, but some habits would take a much longer time to get rid of.

"Mhhh?"

"I thought we were not supposed to eat..."

"Yeah. But hear out my logic. Kakashi is chronically late anyway. Which means, that by the time he decides to show his ugly head, we'll be starving to death. And doing stuff with an empty stomach... Not good."

"I guess it makes sense..." Hinata answered, seeing the faint logic in Naruto's theory.

"Yeah, let's eat."

So Hinata and Naruto had their nutritious breakfast and left to meet Kakashi and Sasuke at the training grounds.

As they arrived, Sasuke was already sitting there, eating an apple. The three sat on tree stumps, waiting for their teacher to arrive. After an hour, Kakashi arrived. And to his surprise, none of them looked hungry or starving.

"It seems you ignored my advice not eat anything. How disappointing. Anyway, let us begin with the final test."

Naruto's eye widened in surprise; no one had told them about another test. He decided to voice his discomfort.

"Another test? We already passed! We're already Genin, what's the point in having another test?"

Kakashi shook his head and explained the guidelines for the test.

"Technically, you're not Genin yet. Only the ones who pass this test are going to be officially promoted to Genin. The ones who fail this test get sent back to the academy to do the last year again."

Naruto was anything but happy to hear the news. "That's bull! I thought we passed!"

Deciding to ignore Naruto, Sasuke asked Kakashi just what this test would be. "So, what's the test?"

"It is simple. As you can see, I have two bells strapped to my belt." The gazes of the three individuals moved towards said objects. "You have from now until noon to get these off me. The ones who manage to get a bell will be rewarded with a free lunchbox, my treat. The one who doesn't will get strapped to that tree stump," Kakashi pointed at the group of tree stumps, "and will be forced to watch the other eat lunch."

Hinata, Sasuke and Naruto got ready to begin their final test, but Kakashi had one more piece of advice for them.

"One more thing. If you want to succeed in this test, then you have to come at me with the intention to kill, don't hold anything back at all."

Within a second, Sasuke and Hinata made a dash for the trees, seeking cover in order to plan out their strategy. The only ones standing there were Naruto and Kakashi, who seemed quite bored.

'_Any idea what to do?' _Naruto asked, really not sure what to do. He was quite confident in his abilities, but Kakashi was a Jonin and Naruto had never really had the chance to use them in actual battle.

"Charging him directly won't work Naruto. I taught Kakashi, he became a Jonin when he was younger than you. He is very skilled in close combat, so you'll have to rely on tricks. Fighting him by yourself is also not really the smartest thing to do." Minato advised. He thought about telling Naruto to go and make a plan with his teammates, but then he would ruin the point of the test. Naruto had to realise that fighting Kakashi individually would be a futile attempt and that only with the combined teamwork of him and his friends; he could have a chance to win.

"**I say we eat him." **Was Kyuubi's only half sophisticated and intelligent input.

Naruto ignored Kyuubi's advice and carefully eyed Kakashi. The Jonin's hand slowly wandered to his back pouch. He remembered what 'accident' had happened to his book, so he decided against taking it out.

Naruto naturally saw this as a hostile action and pulled out a kunai. '_I have to be careful... I haven't actually seen this guy fight... Let's see what he's capable of."_

Quickly thinking of a simple strategy, Naruto charged the man with ferocity and determination, despite his physical disadvantage. Kakashi was a bit surprised. After what he had seen Naruto do back in the academy, he thought he'd be smarter than to open with direct assault. Kakashi didn't even bother using a kunai as Naruto jumped and tried to kick his head.

The attack was so obvious; a blind person would've blocked or dodged it. And as Naruto predicted, Kakashi ducked and let him fly over his head. Still in mid air, Naruto's hands formed a single hand sign. Nothing happened though, at least in Kakashi's opinion, but he had other things to focus on as Naruto threw his kunai at him. The bladed weapon was aimed at the silver haired head, but Kakashi displayed a great amount of flexibility and skill as the rolled backwards to evade the deadly projectile. But Naruto was far from done as he readied himself for another attack.

With great speed, Naruto launched himself at his sensei, a kunai in each hand. He took a second to aim and again threw one kunai, this time aimed at Kakashi's chest. The person in question caught the weapon effortlessly and used it for his own advantage as he started to parry the blonde kid's attacks.

This kept going for quite some time, as Naruto kept on charging and Kakashi kept on blocking. To Kakashi's surprise, Naruto started to attack with increasing precision, speed and strength. Also, the blonde seemed to start predicting his movements, as his attacks suggested.

'_Now, this is quite interesting. His earlier attacks were to test my type of reaction, which he is starting to analyse, and now he is using his prediction as an advantage. He seems unusually profound in taijutsu, as if he trained long and hard... the only other person I know who's similar to this would be Gai's student... Lee. Very interesting indeed.'_

After another few minutes, Kakashi also started to throw some punches and kicks. And again, Kakashi's surprise grew as the kid managed to evade his kicks and block his punches. None of them had utilised any Ninjutsu or Genjutsu yet. At least that was what Kakashi thought.

Not too far away, Sasuke was hiding in the bushes, watching Kakashi and Naruto fight another. He started to think of a plan to get his bell and was naturally surprised to see Naruto's level of close combat skill against Kakashi.

'_The dobe has improved... I want to fight him soon and see how good he really is. Now, how do I get the bell...'_

Sasuke almost jumped as he heard the noise of a stick breaking next to him. His hand immediately shot towards his kunai holster as he looked to the right. Both to his relief and surprise, he saw Naruto standing next to him, grinning as he usually did.

"What the...?"

"Sasuke, we need to fight together in order to beat Kakashi and win, dattebayo!" Naruto said as he crouched next to Sasuke.

"Where did you come from?" Sasuke asked, still not sure where the heck Naruto had appeared from.

"Me? Oh, I'm just a Kage Bushin. The real me is still fighting; he sent a clone to you and Hinata to make a plan in order to get those bells off him!" The bushin explained.

"What plan? You seem to be quite good on your own out there." Sasuke snorted. He didn't really feel like 'making plans' with Naruto, he wanted to show his own skill and get the bell by himself.

"Yes yes, but the real me is starting to reach his limits. The real me is testing Kakashi, he wants to see how good he is and how he can outsmart him to get the bells! But to do that, we have to work together."

Sasuke thought about it. Sure, Naruto wasn't the idiot he had been before. And even though they were eternal rivals, Sasuke secretly saw something he considered his best friend in Naruto. His mind wandered back to when he had first met Naruto.

_He was alone; his mind drifting back to the day his family had been reduced to nothing but him. He was sitting at the edge of a lake, when Naruto came from nowhere and sat next to him. Naruto just sat there, he didn't say a word... just shared the silence with him, as if there was a silent conversation going on between them..._

Sasuke looked at the ground for a second, and then directed his gaze to Naruto again. He spoke, trying to get those thoughts out of his brain.

"Give me one reason I should work with you."

"Well, because Hinata, you and I are on the same team now! And if we don't work together, we will fail and go back to the academy. Do want that? Put up with all the fan girls again? I know you want to get out there and fight that perverted sensei yourself because you want to show off your skills. But you can do that later, once we got the bells!"

Naruto's words were true, and Sasuke knew it. He didn't want to spend all of his lunch time running away from fan girls... that was for sure. Naruto really pressed a button with the part about showing off his skills, but Naruto was right. The Uchiha had the sudden urge to punch the clone square in the face, but that would be rather unproductive as the clone would be dispersed after it took one blow.

Sasuke sighed and shook his head. What had he gotten himself into?

Not too far away from Sasuke, Hinata was having her own conversation with a certain Kage Bushin. He quickly explained that he was a Kage Bushin and that they would all have to work as one unit in order to complete this challenge. Hinata was surprised to see a Kage Bushin, she hadn't seen Naruto create any in the battle with Kakashi, so she decided to ask.

"Naruto-kun... Before we plan..."

"What is it, Hinata-chan?"

Hinata couldn't help but blush as she realised how close the bushin was to her. It was a bushin, but still, it was an exact replica of her crush. She could spend days staring into those blue orbs and studying the features of the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki...

'_Damn it, get a grip Hinata!'_ She mentally shouted at herself. She couldn't risk failing this test only because of Naruto's eyes...

"Well... When did you have time to make the Kage Bushin?"

"Oh, the real me created me when he launched his first kick at Kakashi! He disguised me as a rock, which was really close to the forest. During the fight, I replaced myself with a log and made my way here." Naruto explained.

"Oh ok... That must've been really hard to do, Naruto-kun..."

"Haha, don't say that Hinata, you'll make me blush! Come on, I'll lead you to Sasuke so that we can come up with a strategy."

That said; the two made their way to Sasuke and the other clone.

Back in the field, Naruto kept on fighting Kakashi. Minato had to admit, Naruto displayed a great amount of skill in close combat. He had focused on training his chakra control first, which had been rather sloppy at best, due to the massive amounts of chakra that he had, which of course could be defined as Kyuubi's mistake. But it wasn't the fox's decision that Naruto had so much chakra, he couldn't change the fact that his chakra seeped through the seal and added to Naruto's reserves. After days of Naruto using the tree and water walking techniques, they added kunai and shuriken exercises to the tree and water walking exercises. The more Naruto trained, the better he got with his chakra control. Even Kyuubi said that Naruto was a quick learner and that he understood the concepts of the training and jutsus quite well after some time.

As Naruto's control grew above average in a short time, his grades improved by a great deal. Minato helped him study and always explained in great detail and as good as possible and he didn't mind that his son asked a lot of questions. And whenever Naruto tried to bail from study... There was always the unbelievably annoying fox with pornographic ambitions.

The training sessions also got longer as they started to improve Naruto's taijutsu and Minato started to teach him in his own style. Then Hinata joined their training, which proved to be a very good thing, as the two kept on encouraging each other to improve and become the best they possibly could. Minato didn't have to improve Hinata's chakra control; hers was at an unusually high level. They hadn't started training any ninjutsu yet, because it had taken a little while for Hinata to master both the tree walking and water walking exercises. Minato and his inmate Kyuubi were still thinking what jutsus would suit Naruto the best. He hardly knew any ninjutsu, all he knew was the Kage Bushin, the Bushin, replacement jutsu, which were mostly academy taught techniques. Minato was already planning on teaching him the Rasengan and a few other techniques he created. And once Naruto reached a certain level, he would teach him his most prized jutsu, the Flying Thunder God jutsu. Minato had already decided on teaching Naruto the Rasengan and Hiraishin no Jutsu as early as possible, because both techniques would require him a long time to master. And as it is generally known, young people learn a lot quicker and more efficient than older people.

Minato also knew quite a few good techniques for Hinata, who he also had promised to make her so strong that she could stand up to her clan and show them who the real failure was.

Back to the situation at hand. Naruto was starting to get exhausted. This fight was intense, even though Kakashi didn't attack with full power. Said Jonin was actually starting to enjoy the hand to hand fight as Naruto proved to be more than he looked like. Quickly thinking of something, Naruto made a dash towards the trees. Kakashi started to wonder what Sasuke and Hinata were doing. The fight had been going on for almost 20 minutes and he hadn't sensed their chakra nearby. So he decided to follow Naruto.

"Where do you think you're going, Naruto?" Kakashi shouted as he dashed after Naruto. Kakashi was just about to catch up to him and grab the back of Naruto's jacket, but Naruto ran up the tree which was directly in front of him. This caught Kakashi off guard, as he had to use chakra to glue himself to the ground in order to prevent to crash into the tree at a rather high velocity.

Naruto kept on running up the tree and stopped half way up the whole tree as he stood on a large branch. The hyperactive stamina beast took a moment to catch his breath and regain some of his strength. He could feel a small dose of the Kyuubi's youki enter his chakra system and to his relief, the youki started to heal his strained muscles and eliminate the pain, giving Naruto the needed strength to keep going. His blue eyes looked towards the ground where Kakashi stood who was looking up to him.

Kakashi had to admit, it was quite impressive that Naruto already knew how to run up trees with chakra.

"That's quite impressive, Naruto! But surely, you are getting tired." He yelled up so that Naruto could hear his words.

Naruto looked down towards the ground and yelled back.

"Me and tired!? NEVER!"

Naruto's hands formed his favourite hand sign and the blonde enigma shouted out his by far most favourite jutsu.

"**KAGE BUSHIN NO JUTSU!!!"**

Naruto jumped down from the tree, accompanied by about 100 clones of him, each and every looking determined and ready to fight. Kakashi's visible eye widened in surprise, he had no idea that Naruto had the ability to use the forbidden jutsu to such an extent and not die from chakra depletion.

Kakashi leaped back, putting some distance between him and the clone army. He rotated his shoulder and heard a satisfying 'crack' as he got ready to fight the horde of clones.

'_I didn't think I'd actually have to use ninjutsu at all. I guess that this kid isn't all talk.'_

With a collective roar, the clones readied themselves with kunai and charged. About ten clones stayed back and attached explosive tags to their kunai. They were an essential part of the plan to steal the bells from Kakashi.

The silver haired Jonin readied himself with a pair of kunai as he started slashing down the clones, each disappearing with a satisfying 'poof'. Kakashi jumped into the air and threw the two kunai, killing two of the clones instantly. His hands formed seals at an alarming rate.

'_Snake, Tiger, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger!'_

"**Katon: Gōkakyu no Jutsu!"**

Kakashi's index finger and thumb formed a circle, which Kakashi used as an aim indicator as he shot the fireball out from his mouth. The clones tried to jump away, but many were caught by the oversized fireball. The destruction of several clones hardly mattered as the clones kept on attacking. Kakashi found himself being punched or kicked several times, which started to annoy him quite a bit, so he decided to put an end to it.

He knocked away two of the clones, used a quickly used a small version of the Great Fireball technique to get some space. He already got rid of almost half of the clones.

Again, his fingers started to form three, well practiced and often used seals.

'_Ox, Rabbit, Monkey....'_

"**CHIDORI!"**

Chakra started to gather in Kakashi's palm, emitting the sound of thousands of birds chirping. The chakra became visible and Kakashi charged with unseen speed. Dozens of 'poofs' could be heard as Kakashi's Chidori ripped through the Bushins like a warm knife cuts through butter. It resulted in about 20 Kage Bushins still standing, including the ones that had stayed back with the explosive tags, and of course the original Naruto. After Kakashi dispatched the last clones, Naruto knew that now was the time to initiate the plan which involved him and his Bushins, and of course, his two team mates.

The original Naruto nodded towards the clones and they started to individually throw the explosive kunai at Kakashi. Kakashi realised the threat those projectiles were as he dodged explosion after explosion. Just after he evaded the last explosion, he landed on his feet, wanting to take a much needed rest. But his plans were about to be crossed through by a certain Uchiha survivor.

As soon as Kakashi's feet touched the ground, a dark figure appeared in the air behind Kakashi, forming a few hand seals.

"**Katon: Gōkakyu no Jutsu!!!"**

Sasuke shouted out and shot a massive fireball towards Kakashi's back. The Jonin had less than a second to choose a course of action. Kakashi dived to the side, which of course, was a mistake.

A Byakugan wielding Hyuuga Heiress with a pair of glowing hands awaited him and hit him a few times. And before Kakashi knew it, he was lying on the floor, stunned and not being able to move. Sasuke suddenly appeared next to him to relieve him of his two little bells.

A moment of silence passed...

"AWWWW YEAH!!! WE PASSED, WE DID IT!!" An ecstatic, blonde kid shouted as he did some sort of victory dance.

"Kyuubi?" Minato asked his inmate inside Naruto's mind.

"**Yeah?"**

"My son defiantly puts your dancing skills do shame."

"**... Fuck you."**

Outside, a rather strange scene was developing. Hinata had undone the nerve strike which she had hit Kakashi with. With a combined effort, Sasuke and Naruto dragged Kakashi to the logs... and tied him to the middle one.

Kakashi was still shocked. He fell for a basic ambush set-up, and it had worked beautifully. Naruto had worn him out quite a bit, and the fact that he had used chakra-eating jutsus didn't help at all. He lost his focus and didn't think that Hinata and Sasuke could've entered the fight at any stage.

Naruto found the three promised lunch boxes and handed one to Sasuke and one to Hinata. The three sat around Kakashi in a small circle and ate in silence. Kakashi didn't say a word, and found it to be proper punishment to watch his students eat. He had been bested by three Genin, who had left the academy less than two days ago.

Kakashi hadn't been on dangerous missions lately, and he had been slacking off in terms of training for quite some time now. He considered this defeat as a wakeup call to start improving and training again.

"Hey sensei..." Naruto broke the silence as he looked at the one who had been defeated.

"Mh?"

"You must be hungry!" This also got the attention of the two others.

"No, not reall-"Kakashi's reply was interrupted by a rather loud grumbling noise from his stomach. A sweat drop appeared on the back of three heads.

"Here sensei, have the rest of mine." Naruto offered as he used a kunai to cut the rope.

"Mine too..." The rather shy Hyuuga added as she put her half eaten lunch next to Kakashi. Sasuke wordlessly followed the examples his teammates set and also placed his lunchbox beside Kakashi.

Kakashi was very stunned and surprised by their actions... His mind was made up.

"All three of you..."

Their questioning gazes locked onto him...

"... all of you... PASS!"

**--**

**Ok, that wraps this baby up. Sorry it took so damn long, but I started this one with a BIG writer's block. But it started to get better, but forgive me if this one is hard to read... It's kinda sloppy.**

**PLEASE, REVIEW. TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK, WHAT I CAN IMPROVE ON. I'm still thinking about getting a BETA or being a BETA myself... Mhmhmhm.**

**Anyway, Love you all. (In a non-homosexual way lol) [Kyuubi loves you too]**

**Mat out.**


	9. Traitor

**Why hello there. This is the Author of this story... And I'd like to thank all those people who reviewed and put this story on their "Favourites/Alerts" lists. Thank you! I really appreciate all the nice reviews I get from you guys; but I DO have a request to make. While hearing that my story rocks, some CONSTRUCTIVE criticism would be HIGHLY appreciated. Ily =]**

**PLEASE BE SO KIND TO READ THE COMMENTS AT THE END.**

Chapter 8: Traitor.

--

After Kakashi recovered enough to walk home by himself, Sasuke left, mumbling something about getting some sleep.

Naruto and Hinata decided not to go training this evening as Naruto seemed rather tired and worn out after the bell test with Kakashi. Hinata reminded Naruto that they'd have to stop by the grocery store in order to get some ingredients for dinner. Naruto just nodded and waited outside the store, earning quite the amount of glares from other shop owners and bypassing people.

But Naruto didn't care, he just wanted to go home and get some well deserved rest. After a few minutes passed, a person came out from a store and approached him. The person had blue hair and wore a Chunin Jacket.

It took Naruto a moment to realise just who this person was, but then he recognised him as Mizuki, his former academy teacher.

"Hey, Mizuki-sensei!" He greeted cheerfully. Mizuki hadn't been one of the friendliest teachers, but he also didn't pick on deliberately Naruto or made his life worse than it already had been.

"Hi Naruto. How has your day been?" Mizuki asked with genuine interest. Depending on Naruto's reply, Mizuki would be able to come up with a good strategy to fool Naruto. With Naruto's 'help' he could finally get his hands on the famous scroll which held all the information to every single forbidden Jutsu known to the active and previous Hokages.

"It's been great! My team and I passed Kakashi-sensei's bell test, and now we're officially Genin!"

"You passed Kakashi's infamous bell test? Congratulations!" Mizuki said, faking his cheerful praise. _'This could complicate things. If Kakashi is nearby, he might see through my plan... But this could also be a good thing. If Kakashi exhausted from the battle, he may be so weak that I can assassinate him... Oh, my new leader would look very favourable upon me... Let's hope Naruto is as dumb as really is...'_

Mizuki paused for a second, and looked at Naruto. "So, where is Kakashi now?" He asked, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

As soon as Mizuki asked the question, alarm bells started to ring in both Minato's and Kyuubi's heads. Naruto, being as naive as he always was, answered the question with no doubts at all. Maybe he just too tired to think too much about his sensei's inquiry.

"Kakashi-sensei? He was really tired; he hardly had enough energy to walk to his apartment on his own. Now that you mention him, should I go and see if he's alright? I mean, I am his student after all..."

"I don't think that'll be necessary, Naruto. Kakashi is a Jonin, he can take care of himself, you'll see. By tomorrow, he'll be on his feet again, teaching you and your team." Mizuki quickly explained. If he were to attempt to kill Kakashi, Naruto could easily get in the way if he went to check on Kakashi's condition.

"Yeah, I think you're right sensei..." Naruto agreed with a big yawn.

"Say, Naruto... Did you know about the secret test?" This was where it would get crucial. Naruto had to buy his lie at all costs; otherwise everything would've been a futile attempt.

"There is a secret test?"

"Yes... It's a very easy test, Naruto. But you want to know what the reward is?" Mizuki asked Naruto, spiking the blonde's interest greatly.

"Come on, tell me sensei!" Naruto demanded, taking the bait.

"You will become a Chunin, immediately after you pass the test!" Mizuki elaborated with apparent excitement.

Naruto's eyes grew quite big. Hinata was still in the store, looking for a few cups of instant ramen.

"Are you serious!? Or are you pulling my leg, Mizuki-sensei!? Because if you are, it's really mean."

"Do I look as if I'm joking?"

"No..."

"Are you interested in the test, Naruto?" Mizuki asked, baiting him further. And being a little dense at times, Naruto took the bait. Even though Naruto could be fooled, Minato and Kyuubi weren't.

"**This guy... everything just screams 'TRAITOR' to me."**

"I agree." Minato answered.

"Of course I'm interested! Tell me more." Naruto demanded, playing right into Mizuki's hands.

"Okay Naruto. You see, this test was set up by the Third Hokage to see which Genin are really advanced and good enough to be Chunin already. But only Genins in their first year can take the test! But there are a few rules. First, this is a stealth test, so if you get caught by anyone, you fail the test. Also, you have to work alone, and you can't tell any other person about this test, especially not any of the other Genin. If you told them, everyone would take the test and we wouldn't have enough Genin anymore. That's why the Hokage made the rules so that only one person can pass the test each year, and I think that you could be the one to pass!"

"But Mizuki-sensei... If only one can pass, then why are you telling me? Wouldn't you tell Sasuke-teme?" Naruto's eyebrows came closer to another, and a frown decorated his face.

Mizuki had to think of a good answer quickly. He hadn't prepared for a question like this...

"Well, I think that Sasuke will become Chunin really fast, by himself. But I think that you have a lot of hidden talent and potential, Naruto. Especially because you have so much chakra you can use!"

"Oh, thanks Mizuki-sensei! So, what do I have to do...?"

"Alright... All you have to do is to sneak into the Hokage's office...." With that, Mizuki explained the objective of the test. Naruto nodded at random stages. Mizuki also handed him a plan which resembled the blue prints to the Hokage's Tower and instructed at what time he would have to sneak in to get the object of objective.

Then he told Naruto where to meet him after he had successfully gotten the scroll and learned a jutsu from the scroll. Naruto thanked him again and bid Mizuki farewell as Hinata came out from the store.

'_That sounds easy! I'll just go and grab that scroll, learn a jutsu and I'm Chunin!'_

"Naruto-kun... Was that Mizuk-sensei?"

"Yeah, he just congratulated me for being a Genin now!"

"That's great, Naruto-kun."

"Thanks Hinata, but you were great too! With that nerve strike, Kakashi had no chance! You're really strong, you know?"

Naruto's words of praise naturally made the Hyuuga Heiress turn red. Naruto then wondered why she kept on blushing all the time...

Later that day, Naruto found himself staring at the ceiling of his bedroom. Hinata was sleeping peacefully, breathing slowly and steadily. He was physically exhausted, but his mind was suddenly awake like it had been hours ago.

Naruto's thoughts drifted towards the test Mizuki had explained to him. He thought about the things Mizuku had said about Sasuke being able to become Chunin by himself and him having a lot of chakra available. Wait. How did Mizuki know that he had that much chakra? He never displayed his capacity in the academy, and Mizuki wasn't there when he fought that Kiba idiot!

He probably knew about his prisoner. But if he did, why didn't he hate him like the other instructors did? Naruto didn't doubt that Sasuke was able to become Chunin on his own. But wouldn't Mizuki tell Sasuke about the test? Every teacher had favoured Sasuke, so Naruto started to doubt that Mizuki would be an exception. The only academy teacher that had treated everyone equally was Iruka.

The blonde Genin turned his head to see Hinata in the bed beside him.

And suddenly, he felt like the biggest jerk in history. If he were to take and pass the test, it would mean that he would have to leave Hinata, his best friend and teammate, behind. Even though she had only been his friend for a short time, they had gone through quite a bit together already. He loved sparing with her after their team sessions and spending time with her. Having her around in his apartment was a lot better that he thought it would be; he was enjoying all the time he got to spend around her.

Even if it would delay his first step towards his goal of becoming Hokage, he would never leave Hinata or Sasuke behind. Hinata had her crap family to deal with and Sasuke was like a darker version of himself. They were his team. His friends. His ONLY friends. He'd do whatever it took to stay together with them. If they were to become stronger, then they would: together.

For whatever unknown reason, Naruto felt overwhelmingly tired. His eyes shut close before he realised.

A minute later, Naruto was sitting in front of a large cage. Unsurprisingly, two rather large eyes stared at him through the bars as Minato walked through the gap between two bars. He sat down next to Naruto and began to talk.

That same night, Minato created a clone for himself and made a visit to the Hokage, who was surprisingly still in his office.

--

Kakashi was wearing simple, comfortable tracksuit pants and his standard black shirt. He tended his worst bruises and decided to call it a day as he lay on his bed to read one of Jiraiya's infamous books. His was flipping through the pages, giggling every now and then as he found particularly smutty parts.

His trained ears picked up a faint noise – something that sounded like a door being opened slowly and carefully. _His_ door?

There were no lights on around the apartment, just his little reading light at the side of his bed, meaning that if a person was trying to get in, they'd know that he was either asleep or not at home. Kakashi tensed his body and listened carefully. He wasn't a person to imagine things like this. Yes, it was evening and he was exhausted from the bell test, but he surely wasn't physically and mentally tired enough to have his brain play tricks on him.

Kakashi quickly evaluated the situation. He was alone, all of his apartment's lights were off and it sounded like the door had just been opened. This led him to the logical conclusion that someone was infiltrating his home. And someone who sneaked into shinobi's homes at night usually didn't have the friendliest intentions.

Without making a single sound, he turned off the small lamp at the side of his bed. Just after that, his hand reached below his bed, pulling out a spare kunai and shuriken holster. He attached the holster to his right leg and grabbed the handle of a kunai. In a fluid motion, the kunai was unsheathed. It's needless to say that those kunai were brand new and rather sharp.

The veteran Jonin climbed out of his bed and equipped himself with his sandals, again making no sound. Then he removed the simple cloth that was wrapped around his head to conceal his Sharingan.

'_I'm in no condition to fight,' _Kakashi mused _'at least not in the condition to fight a strong opponent or a Jonin.'_

Finally, Kakashi opened his closed eye, revealing his red eye to the darkness. He closed his other eye, instantly leading to his vision to change. He then made his way to his bedroom door lay flat on the ground so that he could look into his living room through the little gap between the floor and the door.

Unsurprisingly, Kakashi could see the chakra of a male person, who was approaching his room very slowly. He wasn't familiar with the chakra signature, but it was definitely someone who had the chakra of a Konoha shinobi. The person's chakra capacity wasn't too large, definitely not the size most Jonin had. This looked more like someone who was a Chunin, but also like someone who didn't train too hard. Thinking of his options, Kakashi decided to stay to confront this intruder instead of escaping. But he made sure that he would scare the crap out of this person.

Thus, Kakashi quickly opened his bedroom window. He climbed out of the window and closed it from the outside. The silver haired pervert used chakra to walk up the apartment's wall, climb over the roof, and land on the other side. He dashed up the stairs in a matter of a second and entered his own home the way that intruder did. His superior vision guided him around any obstacle as he made his way through the short corridor that led to his living room.

The chakra of the intruder was just about to reach his door. Kakashi wasn't too sure what to do. What if this was an ally?

'_But allies don't sneak into your home at night.'_

So he decided to take the most direct course of action. He hit the light switch.

The following happened in a matter of seconds. As soon as the light went on, the intruder spun around and fired several kunai at Kakashi. The latter quickly deflected them before answering with a kunai himself.

The kunai embedded itself in his bedroom door as the person dodged. Kakashi could now see the person he was fighting. The person wore the standard vest worn by most of Konoha's Chunin and Jonin. He was also wearing the standard black trousers and blue sandals, but his head was covered in a black bandana. Kakashi couldn't catch a glimpse of his face or hair due to the bandana covering everything aside from the person's eyes.

Kakashi decided to fight first and then talk. He grabbed another two kunai and charged the person. Unfortunately, the person had other ideas. The masked attacker grabbed a vase from the table he was standing next to and hurled it at the charging from of Kakashi. Kakashi was charging at a very high speed and didn't have enough time to dodge.

The vase hit Kakashi who had just enough time to jerk his arms upwards to shield his face. The vase broke, resulting in Kakashi being embedded by little pieces of ceramic.

This distraction was enough time for the intruder to make a run for the window. Kakashi, who saw what he was running towards, threw a Kunai in a final effort. Surprisingly, the kunai hit the man's arm, drawing blood from it. It didn't manage to stop him, but it was enough for him to be regretting his attack on Kakashi's humble home. After Kakashi was sure that the person was gone, he made his way to the Hokage in order to report an assassination attempt.

--

Naruto was asleep, but Minato was standing in the Hokage's office. He had just finished his report on what he and Kyuubi suspected about Mizuki. Minato's senses spiked a little as he felt a very familiar chakra approach the Hokage's office. Sarutobi seemed to feel the same as he sent a questioning look towards Minato. Minato just quickly shook his head and dispelled his Kage Bushin's body.

A moment later, Hatake Kakashi entered the Hokage's office, looking rather exhausted and tired. He didn't even wait for the Hokage to ask him, he just sat down in one of the chairs opposite the desk and gave an audible sigh.

"What happened, Kakashi!?" Sarutobi's voice was laced with concern. Kakashi had cuts and bruises over his arms. While he knew that Kakashi had taken a beating from his new team, these small cuts looked rather new.

"Someone just tried to kill me, Hokage-sama."

--

Everything was going according to plan. Naruto was running through the forest as fast as he could, which was a lot faster than most Genin and Chunin could. His speed training with his father had started to really pay off, which he was quite happy about.

The big bulky scroll was strapped on his back as he dashed through the forest. The clearing he was supposed to meet Mizuki at was only half a kilometre ahead of him. In the morning, while Hinata had been showering, Minato had explained the plan to Naruto. The plan was simple: The Hokage would make sure that there were no guards guarding the safe, and safe would be left open. Naruto would just walk at the time Mizuki told him to, and all he had to do was to snatch the scroll. Afterwards, Naruto would make his way to the clearing in the forest where Mizuki instructed him to wait to learn a jutsu from the scroll.

After Naruto had left, the Hokage would deploy a number of ANBU, Jonin and Chunin who would act as if they were 'searching' for the blonde Namikaze. If Mizuki was there, then he'd get the impression that Naruto had actually managed to steal the scroll and that people were actually searching for him. Then, once Mizuki arrived at the clearing, the trap would snap and he would be captured.

When Naruto asked why they didn't just find Mizuki and send him straight to the head of the ANBU Interrogation Unit, Minato had to explain that there is always a possibility that Mizuki had accomplices in the village that they might reveal themselves at the meeting spot. Naruto thought about that for a moment and absorbed the information; that was something he should always think about when ambushing someone.

Thus, Naruto was rushing through the forest. He arrived at the clearing in the forest more than early. His eyes wandered around, examining the surroundings. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, nothing seemed suspicious.

Naruto had some trouble getting the scroll off his back, but he was careful not to damage it in any way. He placed it on the ground and sat next to it, not exactly knowing what to do. His mind wandered back to his mental checklist, to see if he hadn't forgotten anything. After a few minutes passed, Naruto grew bored. What should he do?

"**Hey kit," **the voice inside his mind rumbled, **"how about you do what you were supposed to do?"**

"You mean learn a jutsu from the scroll?" Naruto mumbled as he didn't even bother to mentally reply.

He could hear a low growl inside his mind, assuming that Kyuubi was agreeing. He thought about it. Neither his dad nor the Hokage had told him _not _to open the scroll. And because his father would be a part of the ambush, he couldn't ask him due him running around somewhere as a Kage Bushin.

Shrugging, Naruto carefully opened the scroll. He rolled out the paper, being very careful to not damage the paper in any way. His eyes fell upon the first jutsu.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu," he said out loud, "but I already know that one. Let's see..."

He looked at the next jutsu. It was an S-Classed water based jutsu, which wasn't really something Naruto thought would be useful. He kept unrolling the scroll, having a look at the next jutsu. As the scroll revealed the next jutsu, both Naruto and Kyuubi read the description.

"Kage Bushin... Explosion!?" Naruto exclaimed as he read through the description. "That's awesome! Oh, I can't wait to try this one out!"

'_**Oh boy... Explosions and Naruto are a perfect match. Especially since it enhances his favourite jutsu; the Kage Bushin.'**_

"It says it creates an explosion by making the shadow clone expel all of its remaining chakra. Doesn't that mean the more chakra I put into a Kage Bushin, the bigger the explosion can be?"

"**It sure does."**

Completely excited, Naruto read over the description and instruction. It sounded quite easy, so he skim read through most of the written parts. He closed the scroll again and decided to try it out.

"I think I should start with a bushin that doesn't have the normal amount of chakra but a bit less... Okay, let's do this! Kage Bushin no Jutsu!"

His hands formed the cross seal and a replica of himself appeared. The original nodded and took quite a few steps back and formed the tiger seal; just like it said in the scroll. Then he concentrated on his clone's presence and sent the 'command' for it to explode.

The clone's eyes grew wide, as it suddenly seemed to emit some sort of light. And sure enough...

BOOM.

The explosion was a lot greater than Naruto had expected, as he was thrown off his feet and flew through the air for a couple of seconds. The fresh Genin quickly got to his feet and looked around. He hoped he hadn't attracted any attention.

'_WOW! That was a lot bigger than I thought! Reminder to myself: First, don't try a new jutsu when in possible danger! Second, I should use this as a long ranged attack!'_

Realising that his first attempt had been successful, Naruto wondered if he should look at the jutsu scroll again. He nodded, seeing that he might learn another useful jutsu. With that, he slowly walked towards the scroll...

--

Mizuki was looking behind him, checking if he was being followed. Again, he saw no one, but he kept having the feeling that someone was trailing him.

'_I'm just nervous, that's all... Just my imagination... I better get that scroll quickly and then get out of this useless village...'_

He rushed towards the clearing. It wouldn't take too long for the searching shinobi to find Naruto with the scroll so he had to hurry.

Mizuki arrived at the clearing. Naruto sat there, looking a little exhausted. Had he actually learned a jutsu from the scroll? He leaped from the tree and landed in front of the Genin. Naruto looked up to him, faking some surprise.

"Mizuki-sensei!"

"You actually got it. Good job, now hand over the scroll!" Naruto could hear the urgency in Mizuki's voice.

"Well... I don't that's gonna happen." Naruto replied, grinning.

"What are you talking about!? Give me scroll, now! Or you will never be promoted to Chunin!"

Naruto enjoyed teasing Mizuki like that. "Well, I'd rather stay a Genin my whole life before becoming a crappy Chunin like you!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Mizuki screamed at his former student.

"He's right, Mizuki." A new voice announced. The blue haired Chunin turned around with a kunai in his hand, only to face a rather angry looking Kakashi. Kakashi rushed towards him and slammed his face into Mizuki's visage before he even realised what happened. Still in mid air, a new figure appeared behind Mizuki, just to land a very powerful kick to his backside. The figure landed on a tree's branch, and it turned out to be the most fashion-oblivious person Naruto would meet in his life.

The man was a little taller than Kakashi. The Jonin vest was just about all his sensei and this new guy had in common. The man wore a standard issued Jonin vest, and something that appeared to be a full body, skin tight, bright green spandex. His haircut reminded Naruto a lot of his cereal bowl. The hair was black and shiny, but its shininess was NOTHING compared to this... being's teeth. They were all in perfect order and reflected the light like a mirror, blinding anyone within a meter's radius. The man looked serious, but it literally seemed as if there was fire burning in his eyes.

"YOSH! My eternal rival is correct! Your un-youthful behaviour is simply UN-YOUTHFUL! The once bright Fires of Youth do not shine anymore in your soul!" The man said with a booming voice which was easily loud enough for the entire forest to hear.

Both Kyuubi and Naruto were speechless.

Mizuki got up, rather disorientated. His situation was bad beyond imaginable. One Jonin would've been hard enough to handle, but two of Konoha's strongest was simply suicidal. As he got to his feet, he saw a man he never hoped to see in his life.

Ibiki revealed himself as he emerged between two trees. To Mizuki's shock, the torture specialist was in the pleasant company of two ANBU Black Ops teams. The sinister smile on Ibiki's face said more than 1000 words could. Mizuki wouldn't be the same person after Ibiki was done with him.

As the Anbu and Ibiki took Mizuki away, the spandex wearing ninja, who introduced himself as 'Gai', took the scroll away. Kakashi approached Naruto and helped him get to his feet.

"Thanks sensei."

"No problem. Naruto, you did a great job today. Thanks to you, we got this traitor and Ibiki will be able to find out who that dog was working for. You completed your first real mission, with success. Again Naruto, good job."

"Thank you, sensei! Dinner's on you tonight!" The Genin decided, grinning from ear to ear.

"Come on, let's get going to the Hokage's tower."

"Sure sensei, you go ahead. I'll just chill for a second and the come too, okay."

"Are you sure Naruto? You seem tired."

"Yeah it's okay. Let me just get my things and I'll be there."

Kakashi nodded and leapt away. As he left, Minato jumped down from the tree Naruto was leaning against. He quickly got embraced his son and patted him on the head.

"Naruto, you did a great job! You don't know how proud of you I am!"

"Thanks dad, that means a lot to me. Can we go home now? I feel a bit tired."

Minato nodded and the two made their way to Naruto's apartment. But on the inside, Minato was a little confused as to why Naruto would feel tired. When he and the rest of the team arrived at the scene, Naruto had been sitting on the floor and seemed rather spent. Had he... nah, he wouldn't have learned a jutsu from the scroll, right?

--

Hinata was shocked when Minato told her what had happened. She didn't believe that her Naruto-kun was involved in catching a traitor.

'_Naruto-kun and I just became Genin and he already did something like that! I really am weak... I didn't even help him... I guess my father was right, I am worthless after all...'_

Being as observant as ever, Minato saw the change of expression on Hinata's face. He thought about it for a second.

"Hinata? You look sad. What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, Minato-sama." Hinata relied, obviously not telling the truth.

"You're a bad liar, Hinata. Now tell me, what's wrong?"

"It's... it's really nothing, Minato-sama."

"Stop calling me Minato-sama! I told you don't have to do that! Now please Hinata, I can tell that something is wrong."

The shy girl sighed a bit. If Naruto had one thing in common with his father, then it would be the stubbornness.

"It's just... We're hardly out of the academy and Naruto-kun is already so powerful... And I'm so weak..."

"Weak? What makes you think that you're weak, Hinata?" Minato asked, being surprised. The girl wasn't weak; she was training with him and his son, so he would know.

"Umm..."

"Hinata, is that something your father said to you?" This time, Minato was blunt. Usually, when this girl was troubled, it either had to do with her family or with Naruto.

Her eyes rose to meet his. The look in her eyes told him everything he needed to know.

"That son of.... Hinata, what else did he say to you?" Minato was clearing agitated by then. The physical abuse had been bad enough, and Hinata had told them that she was seen as weak. But now he started to understand that this girl had been victim of systematically practised emotional abuse.

Hinata hesitated for a second. Until now, she hadn't had anyone to talk to. Never. The she became friends with Naruto and now things started to change. She looked up again and met Minato's eyes; the same eyes that Naruto had. He had the eyes of a Hokage, and those of a father.

She knew he could trust as much as she could trust Naruto-kun. And so she began to talk.

--

**ATTENTION! ATTENTION! ATTENTION! PLEASE READ:**

**Hey everyone. That's it for today. I kinda planned to make this one longer, up until the point where the team get their first C-Ranked mission after ripping through the D-Ranks. But I decided against it, as I have a few things to work out.**

**Now, before I say anything, I would like to announce that I am taking a little more serious approach at this story. I realised that I changed Kyuubi's character a little too much, so expect to see some (minor) changes. Of course, he will still be the funny, swearing and obnoxious fox...**

**ALSO, as you can see, I decided to have Naruto learn two jutsu from the Forbidden Scroll. The first one is fairly simple. Also, I think I will invest a lot more time into this story, as it really makes my day to read comments, reviews and thoughts of other people. Please be so kind to drop a REVIEW, as they make me VERY HAPPY.**

**Laters!**


	10. Next Mission! Training!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the media involved. I just love the series and like to write.**

Chapter 9: First C-Ranked Mission!

--

Minato sat in the Hokage's office, discussing a certain topic with the active Hokage.

"Minato, you've been 'back' for some time now. Of course, your return is unexpected. Now, my question is whether you want me to announce your return, which would probably lead to you having to be Hokage again..." Hiruzen started as he lit his pipe.

Minato had thought about that issue for some time now, only coming to one answer.

"No, I don't want to be Hokage, at least not now. I got more important priorities right now. Naruto has been without family or friends for 12 years, so I have to make up for that. That's my responsibility as a father and it's something that I owe Naruto. I have to teach him and train him so that he can one day surpass me and become the greatest Hokage of all time. That may sound like much, but we both know the extent of his determination and that nothing will stop him from achieving his dream. Also, I made a promise to Hinata. I will train her as much as I will train Naruto so that she can show that fucked up clan of hers who the stronger one is. She has a lot of potential; she's just so darn shy. Even if it takes years, Naruto and I will get her out of that shell and let her develop her power. I don't go back on my promises, as that is my Nindo. Also, I have so many things to teach Naruto and we have to catch up on 12 years of lost time. That will be challenging enough, but I am sure that we will be able to do it. Also, there is another important factor. I don't have my own solid body, which will make it very hard for me to be the acting Hokage. As small as the chance may be, I might be able to find a way to get my own body. It's just a guess, but there might be ways do so. Maybe I can find Tsunade and get her to help me. And then, there is another person that I have to deal with... Kushina. My hopes are that she is still in the village that I sent her to, so I have to go and find her. This might even be a problem, as I don't know how Naruto will take the news that he has a mother. In such a short time, I have turned his whole life upside down, and this will further add to that. So, I have to ask of you to keep my existence as a secret to the other ninja and villagers. It's the best if things stay the way they are now; only you, Jiraiya, Naruto, Hinata, Sasuke and later on Kakashi knowing that I am alive. I will definitely not return to the status as Hokage as long as Naruto isn't strong enough to defend himself against the threats that he will face. Maybe, once he becomes Chunin, once I retrieve Kushina, once Hinata rises from her shadows and maybe once I got my own body... Maybe then I will see myself ready to take on the responsibility of being Hokage once more. But until then, I have to beg of you to remain "The Professor"; the wisest man of the village. Of course, I will be around and I will do what's best for the village if I am needed, but until then..."

Sarutobi sighed and took a puff from his pipe. He saw the points that Minato had made and couldn't help but to agree. Yes, he was old and he'd love to retire. Still, Minato had many important things to take care of right now. _'Another year or two... It's not like I can get any older, heh.'_

"You know how much I'd love to retire, Minato. But I see how valid your points are and that you have a lot of things coming towards you, some which may even be harder to handle than all the paperwork that I have to take care of. So, I guess I will keep doing my job until you think you're ready to become Hokage again. But, you owe me." The elderly man said, smiling at the last point.

Minato sighed in relief and smiled at his elder. "Thank you so much, Sarutobi-sensei. Now, I have to get back home, before Naruto wakes up. He and Hinata keep getting up earlier and earlier just to train. And then they still have enough energy to their team training with Sasuke and Kakashi and complete a few D-Ranks. I have no idea where they get all that energy from, but I wish I had that type of energy when I was a kid. The two keep motivating and pushing each other, they remind me so much of Kushina and me.... See you later, Sarutobi! Oh, and you know you could just create a shadow clone to help with the paperwork. That's how I used to handle the work!" Minato said as he walked out the door, just to disappear in a puff of smoke.

Sarutobi shook his head. Minato was right; he could just make a Kage Bushin or two... Nodding to himself, he created the clones and looked out the window as the clones got to work. He looked at the village which was still asleep, only a handful of ninja being awake to do some earlier training. He saw two small figures wearing surprisingly bright spandex suits jogging down one of the roads. He saw an ANBU squad leaping over the rooftops, doing their normal patrols. Sarutobi looked up to the sky as his gaze passed the Hokage Mountain. _'Sensei... You never told me that being Hokage could be so tiring. I bet you're sitting up there, laughing at me right now.... Maybe I really am getting to old for this.'_

Sarutobi looked downwards again and sighed. This village that he loved so much could really give him headaches. The things Minato said about Naruto becoming the greatest Hokage one day entered his mind as he smiled to himself. _'They think he's the demon himself. Yet one day, he will be the one standing up here, protecting them all, even those that hate him with all their heart. The boy this village rejects so openly will one day be their salvation and they will wish they had not behaved in the way they do. I look forward to that day, Naruto. I look forward to you making all the Hokages before you proud. I look forward to you showing the world what true strength is and I look forward to you inheriting the Spirit of Fire that all Leaf Nins should carry. Of course, I will also look forward to the day that you will sit here and cursing Kami for all the paperwork... hehe.'_

--

Hinata launched a high kick, aiming for Naruto's head. Naruto crouched, cleverly evading her kick as he launched a kick of his own, aiming for her stomach. With her leg still in the air, Hinata grabbed Naruto's incoming leg and twisted it with as much force as she could, resulting in Naruto being off balance. Her opponent leaped back, getting ready for the next attack. Hinata rushed towards him, delivering palm strike after palm strike, resulting in Naruto dodging like crazy. Luckily, her strikes were not chakra powered, so she wouldn't cripple Naruto when she managed to get a hit on his chest or stomach. After avoiding the last of her strikes of that attack pattern, Naruto started to go on the offensive as he jumped and tried to hit her with an overhead heel kick. The Hyuuga Heiress nimbly sidestepped and prepared to attack again... but didn't have to as Naruto broke through the water's surface and fell into the pond.

Naruto and Hinata were sparring on the surface of a pond, not too far into the woods. This proved to be rather challenging as they had to be careful to not lose control and keep a steady flow of chakra going through their feet while concentrating on attacking and defending. It was very early, and the sun was still rising. They started around 5 am in the morning and would go on until 8 am. They would usually return to Naruto's apartment to clean up and have their second, slightly larger breakfast. Afterwards they would spend some time relaxing and resting, while Minato explained tactics and taught them fundamental material of a jutsu before he would teach it to them. At 10am Naruto and Hinata would head to off to meet with Kakashi and Sasuke. The team would spend two hours or more training together, often doing teamwork exercises, improving at an almost shocking rate. Kakashi would sometimes create some form of clones to attack the three while they had an objective to complete. The objectives varied, sometimes they had to retrieve an object or protect a person. But after the first few tries, Naruto knew exactly which enemy Sasuke would attack first. Thus Naruto would either back him or Hinata up or engage the next enemy. Sasuke on the other hand could practically read Naruto's thoughts and could count on him to be in the right place at the right time. Also, Hinata would complete their formation as she would too engage in the fighting or she would make sure that they wouldn't be caught from behind or off guard. All three could rely on each other no matter what situation Kakashi put them in. If Sasuke had trouble with an attacker, Hinata would be there immediately to flank the enemy while Naruto would use Kage Bushins to engage Hinata's previous enemy. Their jutsus were always used to compliment another, always placing their team's safety before their individual safety. Naruto would gladly take on four opponents at the same time to buy Hinata or Sasuke enough time to recover or prepare an attack. They were quickly becoming _one, _thinking as a unit, not as an individual. They enjoyed their time as Team 7.

Their interactions did not only make them a strong unit, but they also changed them individually. Naruto and Sasuke didn't care about showing off their jutsu or being the one who did the most work, they focused on getting the job done as a team. Sasuke slowly started to change from a loner into a team player. Even if he wouldn't admit it, he started to greatly value his team mates, even though it happened without him wanting it to. He needed to focus on getting stronger and killing his damned brother. Still, he found himself being unable to not become attached to his team. He saw Naruto as a rival and even his friend, and actually found training with him and Hinata to be enjoyable. Sasuke was having _fun, _something he thought he would be unable to experience as long as his brother was alive. Something inside Sasuke told him that fighting and training alongside his team was making him _stronger, _stronger than he could be on his own. The three would work on their skills, always giving each other tips on what to improve on. At the very beginning, Sasuke refused to listen to anything Naruto said, but that started to change as he was hit square in the face by Hinata during a sparring match. Kakashi told him that he could've easily avoided that blow if he had listened to Naruto's advice. Naruto naturally said that he knew what he was talking about due to Hinata hitting him in the face on more than one occasion. Of course, Naruto then added that Hinata was pretty damn strong and that one should always be on his toes when fighting her. Hinata blushed, Kakashi laughed, Naruto grinned and Sasuke... nodded.

Hinata gained a great deal of confidence from their team sessions. A main reason was the fact that she carried a _responsibility_ while they were doing their team work exercises. She was partially responsible for Sasuke's and Naruto's well being when they were in a scenario set up for them by Kakashi. She swore to herself that she would do everything she could to fight alongside Sasuke and Naruto and protect them as well as she could. Once she made that vow, she started to display a surprising amount of determination during their training sessions which led to her improving even more. With the help of Minato and her team, the shy girl started to develop her very own style of fighting. It was a lot of things coming together. Minato taught her and Naruto the basics of his personal taijutsu style, which she started to integrate into her already established Jyuuken fighting style. The ordinary Jyuuken was very conservative, following strict offensive or defensive attack patterns. But the moves she learned with her team and Minato changed her whole way of fighting, making it a lot more intense, impulsive and exciting. She would jump, kick, spin and even use her surroundings. Hinata was developing into a very strong shinobi, one that was fighting for her friends.

Naruto... Well, he didn't change as drastically as his friends did. He was still as energetic and would push himself as hard as he could while training. His enthusiasm seemed to rub off on Sasuke and Hinata. Still, Naruto became a lot more observant. Minato taught him how valuable it could be to be observant and how important it was to think before acting. Before, when there was something Naruto didn't really like, he would make his displeasure obvious by yelling around. Naruto still yelled frequently, but spent a lot more time thinking about situations and factors instead of impulsively screaming. One could say that he matured in that aspect.

Kakashi was proud of his team. They had been training for just over a month and were displaying amazing progress. He had seen Asuma's team and Kurenai's team train before. Asuma's training regime consisted of them eating at Choji's favourite BBQ restaurant, playing strategy games with Shikamaru or arguing with Ino. They did little to no physical training at all, and seemed to rely on the fact that they were the second generation Ino-Shika-Cho formation. They were sure that their success was granted, simply due to the fact that their parents were famous for being an amazing team, their skills in perfect harmony with another.

Kurenai seemed to do quite intense training with her team, yet her team was giving her quite the headaches. They were lacking the chemistry that other teams like Kakashi's had. Even during missions or important training sessions, Sakura and Kiba would argue. Shino would just stay silent and shake his head. And once he tried to stop them from arguing, both of them would yell at him. Sakura got angry at the slightest mistake that Kiba did. Kiba would say that she wasn't better and Shino would label them both as hypocritical, which was true. Sakura was still obsessed with Sasuke, much to the dismay of Sasuke, and sometimes even the rest of his team. Flashback...

Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata were walking to Ichiraku's after a long day. Their clothes were dirty and the boys had a few small cuts and bruises on their faces, legs and arms. They all looked tired, even Naruto for a change. Kakashi had put him through and extremely hard and challenging test, harder than anything they had to do before. Kakashi hadn't hesitated to use some of his less lethal but still dangerous ninjutsu on his students. It had taken some last minute improvisation by Naruto with his Kage Bushin to save their behinds from a surprise Fireball that Kakashi had shot from behind while they were busy fighting two of his clones. But they managed to transport the scroll from Point A to Point B undamaged. Kakashi had told them they had done a wonderful job and that hasn't ever seen such a good, young team during his career.

Even though they looked battered and tired, each of them looked tired and they had the glow of satisfaction in their eyes. That small smile seemed to always be there, playing around the lips of Team 7. They walked in silence, thinking back on the training session, not only talking about their own performance, but how their actions had affected the final result. They finally reached their destination and immediately ordered their meals. Ayame and her father greeted them friendly; Naruto and his father were their best customers after all. While they were waiting, the three of them were talking about nothing and everything, like normal kids their age. Sasuke and Naruto were arguing about random topics and the team shared a laugh every few minutes, especially when Naruto tried to smack Sasuke on the head but the Uchiha dodged, resulting in Naruto falling from his chair and landing on the ground. They finished their meals and started to walk down one of the main roads in Konoha. Unfortunately, they were walking straight into an ambush.

Team 8, consisting of Kiba, Shino and Sakura were walking towards them. Team 7 was still talking about their plans for tomorrow, and thus did not notice the other team approaching. When Sakura's eyes spotted Sasuke, hearts literally replaced her pupils and she dashed towards the Uchiha, not bothering to finish her argument with Kiba. Hinata barely managed to dodge the incoming girl. Naruto wasn't as lucky and was knocked to the ground, leaving Sasuke open to be assaulted. The black haired boy didn't have a chance as the girl wrapped her arms around his torso.

"Sasuke-kun!!! I've missed you so much!!"

It took all of Sasuke's strength to pry the girl away from him. He felt like yelling 'NEVER HEARD OF PERSONAL SPACE!!???' but that would've been inappropriate for him. Thus he just put on his usual annoyed face and took a step backwards, hoping to put some distance between himself and Sakura.

"Sasuke-kun you won't believe how glad I am to see you! My team is completely crap, they're useless! Kiba is such a jerk! Shino's ok, but he's so quiet!" Sakura told the uninterested Sasuke while pointing behind her, towards her team. Naruto got up and cleaned his clothes of any dust. The blonde Jinchuuriki sighed and stood next to Hinata, who had a tiny frown on her face. Sakura didn't even wait for Sasuke to answer but just kept talking...

"I wish I could be on your team! Wouldn't that be great? Then I wouldn't have to put up with the losers on my team and could fight by your side!"

"Erm... I am quite happy with my team..." Sasuke started, but Sakura was too busy dreaming how great it would be to join Sasuke's team.

"Maybe if I ask the Hokage, he might swap me and Naruto-baka, he's useless anyway..."

"Who are you calling useless, Sakura!?" Naruto said, quite annoyed at the girl. He had enough of being called useless by those who were not more 'useful' than he was. "The last time I checked, it was you who's fricking useless. All you do is talk about 'your oh so great Sasuke-kun'. He doesn't even like you, for Kami's sake! You're just an annoying fangirl to him, don't you get that!? Maybe if you were a half decent kunoichi, but sadly, you aren't!"

Sakura snapped out of her fantasy and angry glared at Naruto. "WHAT DID YOU SAY, BAKA!?"

"I SAID THAT YOU ARE USELESS! ANNOYING! I THOUGHT YOU WERE SMART, YOU SHOULD KNOW WHAT THE TERM USELESS MEANS!" Naruto yelled at her. Back in the academy, he thought that Sakura was very pretty and would always try to befriend her and ask her out for lunch. All he ever got in return was being used as a punching bag by her and Ino. The attention he gave he hadn't been acknowledged by her in any other fashion, always pretending like he wasn't even there. All she had eyes for was being better than Ino and chasing Sasuke. Why Ino and Sakura imagined that Sasuke preferred girls with long hair over girls with short hair was not only a mystery to Naruto, but also to Sasuke himself. He honestly didn't care as he didn't have time for girls, at least not now. Training was more important. Maybe, one day once he killed that man he dared to call his brother, he would rebuild the Uchiha clan to his image. For that, he would probably need female assistance, but until then, he would not care.

"HOW DARE YOU, BAKA!" She yelled back at him, raising her fist to hit him in the head, like she had many times before. Difference was Naruto wouldn't take any of it anymore. The punch came at full force. But it never connected. Naruto didn't bother moving, but caught the fist with his open hand. He wasn't the only one, as Sasuke grabbed her arm just below the elbow to stop the blow. Hinata appeared next to her and looked far from pleased. How dare she try to hit _her _Naruto-kun? Naruto's eyes changed from their usual bright blue to a much darker blue, looking cold and hard as steel. These were the eyes Sasuke and Hinata saw whenever they were in a tight situation during training. The eyes of a trained ninja, a human trained to kill. Those eyes were cold, ice cold, and ready to assess a situation and respond accordingly. Eyes which were normally found in the faces of battle hardened, veteran Jonin like Kakashi, not in the face of a pre-teen. Naruto's grip on Sakura's hand tightened, making her gasp in pain.

"Don't you fucking dare, Sakura." Naruto's voice was as cold as steel, reflecting the expression in his eyes. "Don't you dare think that I won't defend myself. I had enough of your crap. The academy days where you could just hit me whenever you felt like it, are over."

Sasuke nodded at Naruto's words. "If you touch one of my team mates Sakura, I'll be touching you. And not in the way you always dream of." All of this was naturally a surprise for Sakura, who was used to knocking Naruto on the head whenever she felt like it. But it was his fault anyway, wasn't it? She was expecting praise from Sasuke, not that... As she was about to say that he started it, she felt a sharp pain in her side. Hinata stood there, poking her index finger into her side. The finger was glowing in a subtle blue.

"If you touch _my_ Naruto-kun again, Sakura, then I'll make sure that it's the last thing you'll do." Hinata was furious and her voice was laced in venom. Naruto's other; calmer side was surprised to see her like that and thought that she looked really scary when she was like that. Kyuubi agreed.

Kiba and Shino stood a few meters away and decided not to interfere, especially after they heard what Sakura had said about them. But they had to admit that they didn't expect such a violent reaction by Team 7 but then remembered how Naruto had always tried to get Sakura's attention. They wondered if he would ever give up, as a normal person would've been annoyed with Sakura for constantly rejecting him. Minato was confused why Naruto acted to violently when he was called useless, but Kyuubi was nice enough to fill him in on the details. Once Minato was up to date, he sighed.

Sakura was also shocked when she saw Naruto's eyes. They were so angry...

Naruto looked straight into her eyes. He further increased the pressure on her fist for a few seconds.... And then released it. He started walking away from her, towards his apartment. Sasuke and Hinata followed him after a few steps, but Naruto stopped and turned around. He shot the confused and shocked Sakura another cold glare and spoke up.

"Sakura.... Next time, I'll break your fucking arm. That's a promise." With that, Team 7 left the scene and proceeded walking down the road. Shino and Kiba slowly approached Sakura, who was still shaking. Shino's bugs had been shivering with excitement and fear when they had sensed Naruto's anger and rising killing intent. Akamaru sensed it too and hid inside Kiba's jacket. Kiba was especially careful when he noticed the Killing Intent coming from Naruto, as he knew that getting on his bad side was a bad idea. The memories of being defeated by the blonde kid were still fresh in his mind.

--

Further down the road, Team 7 started to calm down. Naruto's eyes returned to their normal, bright state as he thought back on what just happened.

"You didn't have to defend me, Hinata, Sasuke." He started. He had been easily capable to handle Sakura.

"Yes, we did have to, Naruto-kun. You're out team mate and team mates look out for each other!" Hinata said in a firm tone.

"She is right. We're a team. A unit, a squad. We fight for another and we defend each other. That's what you said yourself!"

"Yeah, but still..."

"Besides, we made our point. Mess with one and you mess with all of us. And hey, it's just Sakura. I think that rough treatment will do her good sometime. We are shinobi, after all." Sasuke added to Hinata's and his points.

Naruto shook his head and sighed. It seemed that part of his stubbornness was also absorbed by the two. "Fine. Thanks, I guess." Sasuke and Hinata nodded and the three of them reached the intersection where Sasuke would split from the two to get to his apartment.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow." With that, the last loyal Uchiha leaped to the nearest rooftop and disappeared. Naruto and Hinata made their way back to the apartment. When they reached the door, Naruto turned to her and asked something...

"Hey Hinata-chan, wanna go and train? I feel really worked up."

Hinata smiled at that and couldn't help but to chuckle a little. "I'd love to, Naruto-kun." With a grin on his face, Naruto grabbed her hand and the two made their way to their favourite clearing in the woods. Hinata wasn't even sure if Naruto was aware of the fact that he had grabbed her hand. It's needless to say that she was blushing all the way to the forest. Minato slapped his forehead and Kyuubi just laughed at the blonde's antics.

--

It was in the middle of the night. A little over a week had passed since the incident with Sakura, and Team 7 hadn't seen Team 8 since then. Hinata was sleeping peacefully and so was Naruto. His panda sleeping cap was covering most of his head and his arm hung over the side of the bed. Naruto turned in his sleep and pulled his blanket over his head. He was in deep sleep, probably dreaming of ramen or being Hokage. But... his sleep was about to be interrupted, by two voices; one that belonged to a certain demon and one that belonged to a rather famous Hokage.

"SON! WAKE UP!" Naruto's father yelled. His metal shout started to have effect on the kid, as Naruto started to stir in his sleep. After several more loud noises, the blonde was kicked from his adventures in lala land and woke up.

'_WHAT!? YOU BETTER HAVE A DAMN GOOD REASON FOR WAKING ME, DATTEBAYO!'_

Not too much time later, Naruto found himself standing in the clearing that he and Hinata often used for training. He was facing Minato, who carried a small bag. Naruto had been instructed to sneak out of the apartment after getting dressed and he was supposed to make sure that Hinata would not wake up by any means. Confused, annoyed and sleepy, Naruto obeyed and did as he was told.

"What the heck are we doing here dad?"

"Just watch." Minato replied and held up his arm. He opened his palm, much to the surprise of Naruto, and started to gather chakra. In a matter of seconds, the chakra manifested and started to take form, the form of a perfectly shaped sphere.

In Minato's hands was a blue orb. **Rasengan.**

Naruto's negative mood was forgotten as he stared at the Rasengan. The perfect, fully powered and incredibly destructive as well as lethal form of the Rasengan. Minato made a fist, dispersing the jutsu in the process.

"From this moment on son, you will be learning my favourite jutsu."

The next thing Minato knew was that Naruto was hugging him, almost cutting off his breath and dispelling his artificial body.

--

From that night on, Minato and Kyuubi had to get creative in order to compensate for the reduced amount of time Naruto would have for sleep. But the two came up with a good and effective solution. The hours that Naruto did spend sleeping were rendered a lot more efficient by the Demon's chakra, which was actively released, in small doses, into Naruto's system. Kyuubi's chakra would stimulate Naruto's growth and deepness of his sleep during that time in order to make up for the lost hours. Fortunately, they only had to keep doing that for a little over a week, as Naruto quickly understood the concept and basics of the Rasengan. Minato gave Naruto water-balloons to practise. After he understood the basics, he would just practise whenever he had spare time. When they were training in the morning with Hinata, Minato would often help her improve on her styles of fighting while Naruto would take a break in which he used the balloons to practise. All the daily and continuous chakra control exercises were starting to pay off as Naruto learned the jutsu fairly quickly. This was the first **real **offensive jutsu that Minato taught Naruto.

The very first jutsu that Minato taught both Hinata and Naruto was **Earth Release: Earth Style Wall. **It was a very basic technique, but it had saved Minato several times before. It didn't require too much chakra, especially when there was soil or mud in the area to work with. The original version of the jutsu required the user to expel the mud from his mouth in order to form a quickly hardening wall; but while Minato taught them, Hinata surprisingly and accidentally discovered a way to create the wall by channelling chakra into the ground through their feet or hands. Because it was a simple jutsu, they didn't have to have any knowledge about the Doton element, making it easy for them to use.

During one of their sparring sessions, Naruto had used his Kage Bushin to surround Hinata, giving him quite the advantage over her. She had to use her Byakugan to properly fight of Naruto and his clones, which proved to be a challenging task. After the session, she had shyly approached Minato and asked her if he could teach her how to make shadow clones like Naruto. Minato had to tell her that it was a forbidden jutsu, and that only Naruto could only use it in the way he did. This disappointed Hinata to some extent, but Minato showed another side of himself. The Yellow Flash had a very large array of jutsus, knowing a good deal in every element. When Naruto asked how he knew so many jutsus, Minato just shrugged and reminded him that he had done many travels to other countries and that he studied under the Super Pevert.

Thus, Minato had agreed to teach Hinata how to make a different type of clone: the **Mizu Bushin.** Because the Mizu Bushin utilised the element water as a medium for the body, it only used a far smaller amount of chakra than the Kage Bushin. As he taught Hinata, he noticed that she had no problems performing the jutsu after a few tries at the pond. Minato thought that Hinata could probably have the Elemental Affinity of Water in her chakra, which was very rare among leaf shinobi. That would also explain her near perfect usage of the Mizu Bushin. With her superior chakra control, she wouldn't waste a single drop of chakra and managed to almost create 50 Water Clones of herself before running out of chakra. The jutsu had its limitations as the clones weren't even half as strong as the original, but that depended on the amount of chakra used. Also, the clones couldn't travel more than 200 meters away from the original's body, but Hinata didn't mind. This jutsu would prove to be of great assistance to her and her team, and whenever they would need someone to do the recon work; they could always send Naruto's Kage Bushin. Her chakra reserves had grown quite a bit since she started to train with Naruto, much to Minato's delight. This was only the first step to making her the Kunoichi she so desperately wanted to be.

Minato taught them quite a few jutsu, and the amount of jutsus they knew was growing at a steady pace. But we get to those later...

--

It was a few days after Naruto reached the second stage of learning the Rasengan that things would get bumpy.

"_This is Alpha Leader, report status." _The voice crackled over the radio.

"_This is Alpha Scout, tango spotted. Awaiting orders; standing by, over." _A feminine voice replied.

"_This is Alpha Diversion; I got visual contact with the target. Awaiting orders, over." _ A masculine voice said next, sounding slightly irritated.

"_This is Alpha Assault, I'm in position and ready to engage, over." _A clearly annoyed person replied.

"_Acknowledged. Team Alpha, engage target, attack formation 3, over."_

Sasuke leaped out of the tree as soon as he heard the order. He dashed towards the frightened kitty as fast as he could. The kitty naturally followed its instinct and leaped to the side. Too bad that Sasuke was only the distraction. While in mid-air, Naruto jumped from behind his bush and grabbed the cat out of the air. Having had bad experiences with the cat before, he quickly stuffed the furred animal into a big brown bag to avoid the ridiculously sharp claws of the animal. He looked around and spotted Hinata and tossed her the bag, having a frightened and a bordering disgusted look on his face.

"Here Hinata-chan! You carry the damned thing; I've had too many scratches on my face the last time we had to catch it! Hinata caught the bag and opened, taking the cat out and holding it close to her chest. The cat realised that it had been defeated and decided to make it best of it as it purred at Hinata's soft touch.

"How can you dislike such a cute animal Naruto-kun? Just look at it, it would never harm you... deliberately." The Hyuuga said to him with a smile on her face. Naruto hated the cat with a passion, especially after having being cut by it on several occasions.

'_HOW CAN SHE SAY THAT'S CUTE!? IT'S ALMOST AS BAD AS FOX NO BAKA!'_

"**Shut up, baka! Thy shalt be grateful that I honour thou littleness with the presence that is mine! Bow to meeeeee!"**

Ignoring Naruto's bickering, Sasuke reported to Kakashi over radio.

"_Team Leader, this is Alpha Diversion, target has been captured, restrained and identified. The intel was correct, the target hid in the bushes near the east gate, over."_

"_Good job Sasuke. Take the cat and meet me at the Hokage Tower so we can return the little furball."_

"_Okay. We're on the way. Sasuke out."_

After returning the cat to its rather... voluminous owner, Naruto decided to voice his dissatisfaction.

"Old man! Pleeeeease give us a better mission, something exciting! All we've been doing is doing chores for people who're too lazy to do it themselves! This isn't what we're supposed to do, and you know it! And if I have to go and return that damn cat ONE more time, I will go nuts!" Naruto half yelled and half begged as he and his team stood in the hall located in the first floor of the Hokage Tower where the lower ranked missions were assigned. The Hokage sat in a large chair at the table, Iruka and two Chunin assistants to his side. He was currently fiddling around with the tobacco for his pipe when Kakashi and his team arrived.

"Naruto!! That's not how you address your elders! Show some respect." Kakashi said as he bumped Naruto's head from behind.

"Listen to your sensei, Naruto! You've been taught better than that!" Iruka said to him in a firm tone, thinking that Naruto would've matured a bit. Naruto had matured quite a bit, but all these D-Ranked missions were annoying him to no end. Silently, Sasuke agreed with Naruto. Yes, those "missions" were a good way to improve physical condition and build up their teamwork, but it was not utilising their skills as ninja in any real useful way.

"Calm down everyone." The Hokage said after he finished lighting his pipe. "But I do see your point Naruto... In fact, Kakashi, your team has the best records of all rookie Genins up until now. Team 7 has completed over 68 D-Ranked missions, and each mission was completed satisfactory and many of those people you helped reported that all of you did an excellent job. I don't know how much stronger each of you has become individually, but according to Kakashi's reports, you've been all improving by a great deal since you graduated. Also, we have to take into consideration that Team 7 has done more missions than any other new team. The team with the second most missions is Team 8, which barely has half the amount of missions you've done. That is quite impressive..." Sarutobi said as he looked at the reports and records of Team 7. Even if he didn't say it, he had been observing their training on numerous occasions and was quite surprised with the amount of training that they did outside of their team sessions. Naruto and Hinata trained together before and after the team sessions, and Sasuke would often do extra training with chakra control or his fire jutsus after the training sessions.

Sarutobi went through a scroll for a few moments and took everything into consideration.

"Alright, I think you have earned your first C-Ranked mission, Team 7." He announced, smiling at the reactions of them. Naruto was grinning like mad; Sasuke had a little smirk on his face, whereas Hinata and Kakashi looked utterly surprised.

"Your mission will be to escort a man to his home in the Land of Waves. His name is Tazuna and he is a bridge builder. As this is a C-Ranked mission, minimal fighting will be involved. At best, you should be facing some thugs, but nothing you wouldn't be able to handle. Iruka, be so kind to bring the man in. The man was brought in. He had grey hair with some left over brown hair, Kakashi estimated his age to be around 60. The man carried a bottle which smelled like strong sake, as he seemed to be intoxicated to some extent.

"So you're the punks who I have to entrust my life with... great."

--

**Yo! This warps this one up. I reckon it's alright, as it talks about the training and stuff. Also, I have revised chapters 1 to 4, that's why this took me longer than usual. I've corrected a good deal of grammar and spelling errors. ALSO, THERE HAS BEEN A SLIGHT CHANGE OF PLOT. In one of the earlier chapters where Itachi uses the Magenkyo... I changed it so that Sarutobi, Jiraiya and Fugaku ARE NOT present while Itachi uses it. Just a heads up.**

**Be so kind and review. Also, if you are creative, then help me. I need jutsus, custom ones. Ones created by YOU. I don't care about its rank or element; I will use any type of jutsu. Or send me suggestions for jutsus, or ideas. I will happily accept them, and maybe modify them to my needs. OF COURSE, you will be given credit when the jutsu is being used. Send me a PM or just include it in a review. They can me low level jutsu or high level ones, whatever. If they are lower levelled, I would probably build them in pretty soon, as Naruto, Sasuke or Hinata would be the ones using them! Thanks in advance! Love ya'll! And sorry if Kyuubi doesn't have any screen time. He took a break today for this chapter.**

**Thank you! Matimac.**


	11. Land of Waves!

**Hey everyone! Thanks for all the amazing reviews. I felt like being nostalgic and read all of the reviews I got so far... And I had to smile for the whole day. That is actually true.**

**Also, I would like to shout out to and gratefully thank the following people. Please read THIS and the A/N at the end, as they are important.**

_kylekatarn77 _– **For pointing out that I managed to epically screw up with the order of the chapters in the beginning of the story. As I said, I changed a lot of mistakes in Chapters 1 – 4. Then I somehow managed to upload them in the wrong order. Took me sometime to figure out which ones I uploaded wrong, but I managed to fix this. So, let's all thank **kylekatarn77 **for pointing that out! In connection with this, I have changed the titles of a few chapters.**

_kitsunegamer375 – _**For giving me several, great... no, AMAZING jutsu and good ideas for more! Kitsune, wave arc is dedicated to you. All your help has changed my views of my own story and my plan to approach it in a different way, a boost in creativity included.**

**Okay, there is one problem. An anonymous person has reviewed, and gave me very good jutsus. Unfortunately, the reviewer didn't include a name, so I don't know who to thank! If you are reading this, please contact me. One of the jutsus that you gave me was ****Lightning Style: Static Charge!**

_Fury074 _**– For making me realize that I didn't investigate enough. I didn't consider Itachi's age when he made that vow to the Yondaime Hokage. So for now, please pretend that Itachi is older than in the canon. Thanks, and I will find a way to fix this without having to completely change my plans for Itachi.**

**Okay guys... there were a lot of people who sent me their jutsu creations! THANK YOU ALL! I will credit each of you once your jutsu make their appearance. :D**

**All of these jutsu have leaded to make create a JUTSU LIBRARY, which is currently a MS Word Document that contains the jutsus that I have received from you guys and a few additions of my own. (The library also contains the author of the jutsu, so that I never forget who was so nice to send me or share their ideas with me...)**

**And also, I would like to thank ****YOU.**** Thank you for reading my story, and writing these amazing reviews which keep me writing. They make my day a lot brighter and inspire me with ideas. And I have to add: Thank you for putting me on your Favourites and Alerts lists! And if you've only read so far and haven't reviewed... Don't be shy. Just hit that review button and the end of the chapter and write something. Something that you liked, something where you thought I screwed up. It doesn't have to be as long as the reviews that I get from a few certain people. One line is fine too! (Anonymous Reviews are enabled, so if you can't log into ff or don't have an account, reviewing is still possible!) [And if you don't review, then the epically amazing Kyuubi no Plushie will come and nom you in your sleep.]**

Chapter 10 – Journey into the Land of Waves.

Naruto mumbled something about stupid and drunk men as the trio slowly walked through the village gates. An hour had passed since they had been briefed on their mission. The team had been given half an hour to prepare and gather their needed supplies. Team Seven made sure to pack as light as possible, only taking spare clothes, essential food, sealed tents and sleeping bags and of course enough weaponry for this type of mission. They would need to travel to the east, to a port at the coast of the Land of Fire. There they would take a boat to cross the sea to the island where they would have to bring Tazuna to. The travel to the port would take just over a day, if one travelled at a ninja's average speed. Unfortunately, they had to adjust to Tazuna's speed, which wasn't fast at all.

Tazuna kept questioning the ability of the young team of Genins, always claiming that these "brats" would not be able to defend him, even though Kakashi assured him that they were more than capable, Tazuna's beliefs and views of the team were about to change. They had covered about half of the time the needed to arrive at the port. The sun was blazing mercilessly and the occasional breeze would occur. Summer was starting and the last remains of spring were disappearing quickly. The team was currently walking through a forest like area, with a good amount of trees around the path that led to the port.

They could feel the moisture in the air rise a good deal. Then, Hinata noticed something. At first, she didn't think too much of it, but as she looked around, she couldn't see any bigger shadows... So how could a puddle of that size not evaporate? Kakashi noticed it too; after all, it hadn't rained in over two weeks now. As the passed the puddle, Hinata made a very subtle and covert handsign, which instantly alarmed Naruto and Sasuke. Still the two acted as if nothing happened and kept walking at the same pace. When they reached a certain distance away from the puddle, Hinata pretend that she was scratching her nose, but formed a seal with her fingers instead. Veins started to become visible around her eyes, as she scanned the puddle behind them. She saw the chakra pattern inside the puddle and the structured connection to two people hiding beneath the puddle.

In a hardy audible whisper, Sasuke asked, "How many, Hinata?"

"Two." Was the barely whispered reply.

Kakashi leaned forward a bit, pretending knock Naruto on the head. "Anything else you can tell us about them?" He too was incredibly quiet. He bumped Naruto on the head, and Naruto took the offer and shouted around saying how much of an idiot Kakashi was.

"The chakra system of them is almost identical... They could be related. They carry some sort of weapon... It looks like a long chain, and it seems that it is attached to a gauntlet on each of their arms..."

"Village?" Sasuke asked.

After a second, Hinata replied. "Kirigakure."

Tazuna had trouble hearing the whispered conversation, but turned very pale once he heard Hinata say Kirigakure.

Kakashi thought about the description. He frequently read the Bingo Book, and those two sounded very much like the Demon Brothers, two Nukenin that had neglected their village after a coup on the Mizukage's life failed. A coup set by none other than the Demon of the Mist, Zabuza. Before the team could discuss any further, the attack was launched. The chakra signatures of the two offenders could be felt rushing towards them at high speeds.

"Formation One!" Kakashi instructed while preparing himself to face the attackers. Formation One was simple. It was the first formation they created and it was used to protect a target area or person. In the case of a person, Hinata would stay as close to the person as possible, using her Byakugan and senses to search for any incoming enemies. Her main objective was to defend the person or provide support for her teammates if things became critical. Naruto and Sasuke were to engage the enemies, but Naruto had the make sure to stay close to the protected area/target in order to help Hinata with his Kage Bushin. With Hinata close to him, she could warn him of any incoming attacks and direct his Kage Bushin to maximise their use. Sasuke was to either fight the enemies with Naruto or help Kakashi.

None of their formations had been tested in actual, life or death combat, but its flexibility was about to be shown.

The Demon Brother's rushed towards them, 3 meters of distance between the two. Those three meters were covered with a thick and razor-sharp looking chain style blade that was connected to one arm of each of the brothers. Sasuke frowned at their choice of weapon. That weapon was very impractical. It was more of a burden than an aid, as it could easily be avoided and it could lead to the two being disorientated if one disabled the chain or if one managed to trip one brother. Kakashi shared similar thoughts. The weapon was good if you were in perfect sync with your partner, but it was best used for stealth and surprise attacks. Too bad for them that this attack was neither stealthy nor surprising to the fresh Genin team.

The slightly green poison on the edge of the blade was no surprise to the Jonin. A small cut could probably turn out to be a major problem if the cut was inflicted by that weapon, but no member of his team would be cut if he was around. These two had assassinated some politicians before, most of them time with poisoned blades. Kakashi knew quite a bit about poisons, but he was no medic nin.

Because Kakashi was at the rear of the group, he was the first target. That was only logical, considering that he was the strongest of the team. His reputation reached well beyond the borders of Konoha, so these people probably knew what he hid beneath his forehead protector. His gloved hand pulled out a kunai which he tossed at the left sibling. The mask wearing Nukenin had to duck, slowing the attack down.

Nodding to his team, Kakashi attacked the one on the left first while Naruto and Sasuke charged the one on the right. Tazuna who was as white as snow was shaking and glancing around, looking for somewhere to hide or escape to. But Hinata turned around, with a determined look in her eyes and motioned him to stay.

Naruto quickly created three copies of himself who charged at the enemy. Sasuke let Naruto do the initial charge and hung back for a bit. As Naruto's clones attacked the demon brother who had to dodge the kunai, Sasuke leaped into the air. He reached for his shuriken and tossed them, following with a quick pattern of seals.

"**Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!"**

The small fireballs enveloped the shuriken, hiding them in the flames. The fireball shots made their way to the Demon Brother. Suddenly, both Demon Brothers jumped into the air at the same time, both having to dodge attacks by Kakashi and Sasuke. That was when the trap snapped. Hinata who was kneeling on the ground placed her palms on the ground and mumbled something after finished a short set of hand seals.

"**Doton: Doryūheki!"**

Hinata pumped a good deal of chakra into the jutsu and focused the chakra into the area right between the two enemies. A wall of earth erupted from the ground and shot into the air. The wall was perfectly aimed. Unable to alter their course, the Demon Brother fell back to the ground, but the chain proved to be a big liability. The brothers were now tangled on the wall, one hanging on each side, unable to go anywhere due to the chain. The only option they had now was to release the chain.

The two did so, and were now on their own. It quickly became blatant that those two were mediocre in taijutsu or ninjutsu, only knowing basic techniques. Their fighting styles and techniques mainly focused on the usage of their combination weapon.

"**How dare they call themselves "Demons"!? They are not worth of the title! They are pathetic! A dead cow would be more of a challenge! A cow! Which is dead!"**

After a few minutes of a strictly one sided battle, the two demon brothers were tied to two separate oaks. Kakashi had used special chakra absorbing wire that made them unable to use any jutsu. The other advantage of the wire was that if the two struggled too hard, it would cut into their flesh, inflicting a nice amount of cuts.

Kakashi also summoned his dogs to make sure that they didn't try to escape. A messenger bird was summoned to call the ANBU to pick the two Nukenin up.

"Very good job team. Very good use of our formation. Naruto, Sasuke, good job on fighting your opponent. Hinata, that Earth Wall was perfectly executed and made this fight child's play. How much chakra did a wall of that size cost you?" Kakashi praised his team. They had done it exactly the way they practised, even though Hinata's jutsu was improvised.

Hinata blushed at the praise and Naruto gave the victory sign. Sasuke smiled a bit and gathered all the still usable kunai and shuriken; there was no reason to waste the useful weapons.

"T-that wall took about one third of my chakra, sensei."

"That's good. Your chakra reserves have grown quite a bit, but you would be even stronger if we can make them grow even more. I have some special exercises that I want you to do later; they should help you a good deal in getting more chakra." Kakashi said, as he turned to Tazuna. "Now, while we take a rest, you have some explaining to do."

"W-what d-do you mean?" Tazuna barely managed to stutter out, trying to hide his nervousness. But due to the fact that shinobi tended to be adept at reading body language, the members of Team 7 knew that he knew exactly what they were talking about.

"Well..." Kakashi started, "They surely weren't after me or any of my Genin. Konoha doesn't have any disputes with Kiri, and if we did, I would know about it. There could be the slight possibility that they could've gone after my head, as my reputation is well known in most other countries and I am listen in many Bingo Books with high bounties on my head. But those two didn't seem suicidal and they only recognized who they were fighting against after they saw my face and abilities. No ninja that doesn't have exceptional skills and is above the level of Jonin would directly attack me. I don't want to brag, but you would have to be extremely dumb to go up against me. None of my students here is listed in the Bingo Books. Yes, they may have Kekkei Genkais, but even so, they would've attacked us at night time, when we are asleep. Those ninjas were going for a quick kill. But who would they want to kill? They wanted to kill you, Tazuna-san. And I would like to know why Chunin level renegades are here, ambushing us, certainly knowing that you were here."

Tazuna sighed. And so, he began to tell the story of Gato and his influence.

--

Inside Naruto's mind...

"**HUMAN!"**

Minato turned to look at Kyuubi. "What?"

"**TALK TO ME!"**

"Huh?"

"**YOU HAVE BEEN AWFULLY QUIET LATELY! I DEMAND THAT YOU AMUSE MEEEEE!"**

Minato sighed and stepped outside the cage. He created his _Mental Barrier_, and stepped back into the cage.

"**Basing the following statement on observations of events that occurred during the previous 12.16 seconds, you do not want the following conversation to reach the consciousness of the kit that keeps us in here."** Kyuubi observed, sitting in his thinking pose with his tails forming a circle around his now shrinked body. **"So, what's wrong?"**

"It's just... well, it's because we're heading to the Land of Waves."

"**What's so bad about that? Foxes can't swim but we like to eat fish... Sometimes."**

"It's just... The Land of Waves and the village we are heading to is VERY close to the town that I sent Kushina to after she gave birth to Naruto."

"**Kushina? Your mate."**

"My wife."

"**Your mate."**

"My wife."

"**Your mate."**

"My wife!"

"**Your mate!"**

"MY WIFE!"

"**YOUR MATING PARTNER! SAME THING!"**

"FINE! Call it whatever you want, but she is there, at least I hope so."

"**And what is so bad about that? Maybe we can say hi, you know, do some quality catching up, eat some donuts; maybe do some mating..."**

"Shut up!!! The problem is I really want to go and see her, and take her back to Konoha with us. But I don't know how Naruto will react... And hell, I don't even know how Kushina might react."

"**True true. Kid ain't had no family and he got me an' you. Wow that rhymes!"**

"You aren't exactly family, but ok..." Minato replied with a big sweat drop on his head.

"**That kinda leads me to a question. Why didn't she ever come back to Konoha? Y'know, after you sealing me and all."**

"To be honest, I have no clue. Maybe she thought that both Naruto and I died during the process of the sealing. Or there might be another reason..."

"**Okay. But we should go and find her; a mother might be something that could make this kid's life even better. You know, good old motherly love."**

"Yes... I think you are right. When I sent her to the village, I set two of my most trusted and skilled ANBU members to stay with her and protect her all the time."

"**Do you think that they're still there with her?"**

"I sure hope so... Another reason why I sent them with her is because I didn't want them to get killed. They are very good hearted people, and they love the village with all their heart. It took me a lot of convincing to prevent them to rush into the battle with YOU and get them killed for no reason."

"**Hey, I had my reasons for attacking your village."**

"Reasons!?"

"**Yes..." **Kyuubi suddenly sounded solemn and distant. **"I will tell you another time... For now we have more important things to do."**

Minato glared at the fox for a few moments. He didn't actually believe that the Demon had legitimate reasons for attacking the village. Instead, Minato assumed that the Demon had attacked for pleasure, like demons normally do.

"You better tell me later... Now let's have a look what that bridge builder has to say in his defence."

--

After Tazuna had told them the story of the Land of Waves and how Gato drained the whole country of every possible source of finance, Team 7 was quite shocked by the cruelty of the billionaire. What was disguised as a logistics shipping company was a harsh, brutal and most of all, illegal drug dealing and prostitution system in reality. Following the story, an argument between Kakashi and Naruto started, debating whether they were to continue the mission. Naruto's arguments were that they, as shinobi, had the power to bring change to a country in need, and it was their duty to help those helpless people. Tazuna's bridge was the last pillar of hope for the people on the islands, and he would do everything he could to help the man finish the construction of that bridge, with or without Kakashi's help.

Kakashi on the other hand argued that Team 7 was not ready for such a mission yet, and that they should return to Konoha and report to the Hokage. Also, Tazuna hadn't told the Hokage that he was possibly targeted by skilled Nukenin who were hired by Gato. Naruto got a bit angry at his sensei's words and asked him "What would your sensei do if he were in your place?" Kakashi went quiet for a while, as the words of his student seemed to hit a spot. Naruto was then backed up by his teammates who said that they didn't care whether they would have to face greater odds; they would still assist Tazuna in constructing the bridge.

Kakashi then remembered the times of his youth, when he was still a part of Team Minato. He thought back to the things his sensei, the fourth, and Obito believed in with all their heart. They believed in the good of people and that they should help those in need. Minato had never harmed a civilian in a direct way, even if they were from the enemy's village. He had done his best to help those he could help; those in need.

After Kakashi's flashback, he sighed and nodded. The determination shining in his students' eyes was the same determination he had seen in his former team mates. A determination based on beliefs, a determination that would stand to defy the overwhelming odds, a determination seen in those who've seen too much. They would help Tazuna get back to his village and aid the in the construction.

--

Team Seven sat around a table in the kitchen of what was Tazuna's house. Tazuna lived with his daughter and grandson in a humble home, directly at the water. The house was average sized and had two floors. They had two empty rooms and a few spare futons, so Team Seven wouldn't have to all sleep in the same room.

When the team met Tsunami, they were surprised to meet such a young and beautiful woman. She also told them the stories of Gato's and his thugs' doing, giving the team a better understanding of the situation. Then they met Inari, the son of Tsunami. Inari's eyes were dull, making the boy look like he had lost all hope and will to fight. Once he heard how Naruto and his team were planning to help as best as they could, he screamed at the group, claiming that there was no such thing as heroes. Naruto retaliated by screaming back at the boy, telling him to stop talking nonsense. Inari stormed off, tears in his eyes.

When Naruto wanted to follow him, Kakashi stopped him and asked Tsunami and Tazuna what the problem was with the child. A sad look crossed Tsunami's face and she told them the story of Kaiza, the only man that ever came close to being the father he had always looked for.

The story saddened Naruto, as he thought that Kaiza's ideals were similar to his own and his father's. This led to Naruto getting a lot angrier than he had been before, not being able to understand how a human being could be as cruel as Gato. After the story had ended...

... Naruto slammed his hand onto the table.

The people sitting around the table stared at him, able to feel the massive anger rolling off Naruto in waves. Naruto looked down at his clenched fist, and decided to make another promise.

When he raised his head a little, just enough for him to make eye contact with the others, his team, Tazuna and Tsunami were confronted with a pair of cold, hard as steel eyes. Kakashi thought he saw a flash of red in his eyes for a second, but thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.

"Tazuna... Tsunami... I promise to the both of you... That Gato _will _die, even if I have to do it myself; even if it's the last thing I do."

And with that said, Naruto left the house to go blow off some steam in the woods. Some training would be good. He had deployed a dozen of his Kage Bushin earlier to do patrols in the surrounding area and keep an eye out for any potential threats. Five of them would always stay close to the house to warn them if someone came close to the place where they stayed.

Back inside the house, everyone was quiet. Kakashi, Hinata and Sasuke were very surprised at Naruto's promise, and knew that he would keep that promise. Kakashi looked a little distressed. _'I guess Naruto will have his first kill at a young age... Just like me, even though I was half his age... And Sensei...'_

"Kill Gato!? Does the kid know what he's talking about?" Tazuna exclaimed. Of course, he had seen the team fight, but Gato had an army full of thugs. Surely, a single ninja didn't have a chance against those numbers...

Sasuke was the one to answer. "He knows very well what he's talking about. He will do like he said, because Uzumaki Naruto doesn't go back on his word. That's his nindo, his personal way of the ninja. As strange as it may sound to you, but Gato will be dead the second he enters the town."

Kakashi nodded. "Yes, but I hoped that he wouldn't have to kill anyone on his first mission outside Konoha. He's still so young... All of you are. For once, I hope that he won't be able to hold his promise, at least not directly."

--

Outside in the forest, Naruto was standing there, doing his best to finally master the Rasengan. Minato sat on a tree stump and observed him, a frown evident on his face. He didn't like the promise Naruto made... it made him think back to his first kill.

Naruto grumbled something about the Rasengan being too hard to master. _'Damn it, it's so hard to get it right! The rotation isn't too hard, but containing the required power is. Making the chakra rotate as fast and wild as possible while maintain the sphere shape is hard.'_

"Naruto, stop for a bit." Minato said, as he stood up. Naruto halted and turned around.

"What is it?"

"I want to teach you a new jutsu."

"Really!? Cool, thanks dad! The Rasengan is awesome but it's really hard! What jutsu will you teach me? Oh, and why don't we get Hinata over here, so she can learn it too!"

"I'll be teaching this to you only, because Hinata wouldn't be able to use the jutsu to the extent that you could. Yes, the Rasengan is hard. It took me THREE years to develop and learn, and you've been learning it for a few weeks now, and you're darn close to mastering it. Now, the jutsu I will teach you is something you will find very useful. It's called **Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique.**"

"Shadow Shuriken...? That sounds like Shadow clone, but with weapons?" Naruto asked, rubbing his chin. If this technique was anywhere similar to the Kage Bushin he loved to use, then it would be very useful. He could, with his chakra reserves, make thousands of shuriken or even kunai with only throwing one weapon. That was good when he had a limited amount of weapons, and the best was, those shadow cloned weapons would be just as lethal as an ordinary weapon, but not as durable.

"Exactly. And the way I know you son, you'll have it down by the end of today." Minato added, lightening the mood a bit.

An hour passed... and Naruto mastered the jutsu.

Another hour passed... and Naruto managed to apply the jutsu to kunai.

A third hour passed... and Naruto and Minato were jumping all over the place, sparring with another.

A fourth hour passed and Kyuubi decided that marshmallows tasted better than he thought they would.

--

"Okay team, here's the deal for today. Naruto and I will go to the bridge and make sure that Tazuna and his remaining workers are safe. You two are to stay here and ensure the safety of Tsunami-san and Inari. Their safety is your only priority, as Gato will most likely send thugs here, now that Tazuna is back. We will stay in contact via radio, so if you get into trouble you can't handle, contact us. Naruto has deployed a dozen shadow clones to patrol around the area, looking for those thugs. Everything understood?"

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei." Hinata and Sasuke answered in union. Sasuke was annoyed that Naruto got to go to the bridge, but hid it very good. Arguing would be counterproductive, which is not acceptable for an Uchiha. Besides, there could also be the possibility that he would get to fight, defending Inari and Tsunami while Naruto wouldn't do anything besides watching the bridge getting closer to being fully constructed.

The bridge Tazuna was constructing was a major nuisance to Gato. If it were to be completed, the people of Wave Country would be able to leave the island and trade with people from overseas. Also, the bride was also the last pillar of hope for the people of Wave Country to hold onto. They had lost all their hope, all their will to resist the disgusting evil that Gato is.

Kakashi and Naruto arrived at the bridge with Tazuna, walking at a leisurely pace. They waited for the other workers to arrive, and were very surprised to see the amount of people that assisted Tazuna in building the bridge.

In total, 24 men showed up. 24 men to construct a whole bridge.

Before Naruto or Kakashi could ask, Tazuna spoke up. "Gato... after he came to the village, he took away all the young, strong men. They made up a good deal of our workforce, and with them gone; the progress has been slowed very much. Then he killed more of the men that helped in building the bridge... We used to be 50, even after he killed some of the workers. The others don't have the courage to help me build the bridge anymore, and I honestly can't blame any of them. Gato has spread fear and paranoia across the whole country, and too many are too afraid to openly resist him. That's why..." Naruto and Kakashi could see unshed tears shine in Tazuna's eyes, "that's why I build this bridge. We used to be a proud country, like I told you..."

Naruto nodded. "Okay! Then I will help! **Kage Bushin no Jutsu!**" Over a hundred clones of Naruto popped into existence. And with one loud, collective roar... "LET'S BUILD THAT BRIDGE!"

Tazuna's jaw literally dropped and the eyes of the remaining workers' went as wide as dinner plates.

Naruto sheepishly grinned and Kakashi sighed. Then, the men got to work. Tazuna stood upon a little platform and directed the workers and the clones. The clones were mainly used to do the brute, physical labour that would've taken hours for only the workers to complete. The clones transported the materials and the experienced workers made sure that they were placed in the right locations. Aside from that, the two Konoha Nin didn't have too much to do. Kakashi spent most of the time pacing back and forth on the part of the bridge that was already built and read his infamous book. The man somehow managed to get a waterproof, fireproof, and most of all, bird-shit-proof copy of the latest Icha Icha Paradise issue.

Naruto on the other hand sat on a box, cross legged. He closed his eyes, ignoring all the accommodation around him. As strange it may sound, Naruto was training.

Inside Naruto's mind, he was revising the process of creating the Rasengan and Kage Shuriken no Jutsu. After sometime, he spoke up...

"Dad, remind me why I am doing this in here and not outside? Like, why am I not doing this physically?"

"I told you already Naruto. Training outside will increase your experience with jutsus and will increase your chakra reserves. It would improve your physical ability. But training in here has its advantages. Unlike your body, your mind won't get as tired as quickly. You'll be able to concentrate better in here and focus on your jutsu efficiency. And with me the furball here, we will be able to teach you jutsus a lot quicker, since time here passes slower than on the outside. Besides, we will be able to point out flaws in your application of your chakra. Believe me, this is the best training when you have limited time and don't want other people to see what you are working or improving on. Right now, we can't let Kakashi know that you are learning the Rasengan and are pretty damn close to mastering it. Of course, once you have learned or improved a jutsu in your mind and spirit, you will have to perform in a few times in physical form so you can see and experience the changes, making your body adapt to it. This is a good way for us to teach you, and we're about to teach you another jutsu."

"Okay whatever! New jutsu, new jutsu!"

"Yes yes. Again this is a simple one, but it can be very useful, especially in combination with your newly learned Shuriken Shadow Clone technique. Later when we get back to Tazuna's house, I want you to try and teach it to Sasuke and Hinata, okay?"

"Yes yes! Go, teach, teach!"

"Okay. The jutsu is called **Lightning Style: Static Charge.**"

"Static Charge? You're teaching me a lightning element jutsu! Cool! But I don't have any experience with Raiton jutsu... what if I can't use lightning type jutsu-"

"Woah, wait! Let me explain. **Lightning Style: Static Charge **is not that hard, and it's not at a level where you need lightning as your elemental affinity. I am sure that you can learn it."

"Okay... What does it do?" By now, Naruto was really excited. He would finally learn his first raiton jutsu!

"It's a pretty straightforward technique, but it can be very dangerous when used properly. You charge a kunai or shuriken with electricity, so when it is blocked, it releases its charge. This causes involuntary jerking, and even numbness, depending on the amount of chakra used or whether you hit something that can transfer electricity, such as metals or even the opponent's bare skin."

"Hmm, that sounds very useful, good for traps, ambushes and surprises."

"True. But that's not all. If another elemental jutsu other than lightning comes into contact with the kunai or shuriken, the charge will dissipate. That means that the electricity can be avoided if you only use moderate amounts of chakra. I haven't tried this yet, but if you channel a lot of chakra into the jutsu then you might be able to avoid that the elemental chakra is dispelled."

"Cool. But, doesn't that mean that if I charge electricity into a kunai while holding it, I would shock myself?"

"Good job Naruto. That is the downside of the jutsu. There is the chance that the jutsu backfires and shocks you instead of the opponent. That's why we will create a way so that you can activate the electrical charge once you've thrown the weapon, or a time delay effect."

Sometime later, after Naruto got the jutsu down, he focused back on reality. Evening had come soon and the workers were returning to their homes, content with their days work.

--

If beauty had a definition, it would've been her. If the saying "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" had a physical form, it would've been her. If strength had a definition, it would've been her. If laziness had a definition, it would've been her. If the term "sleepy head" had a definition, it would've been her.

If danger would've had a physical manifestation, it would've been her.

It was her. It was Uzumaki Kushina.

Currently, Uzumaki Kushina's head was covered by a pillow, some strands of her crimson coloured hair visible. Her blanket was half kicked off the bed and one arm hung over the bed's edge. She was mumbling something about salty ramen and snuggled closer to the pillow.

A knock on the room's door.

Another knock.

A third knock.

The door opened, revealing a middle aged man with black hair. The hair was tied at his neck and he wore a forehead protector with the leaf symbol engraved into the metal plate. He wore standard black sandals and black pants that were taped at his ankles to prevent the hem of the pants to get into the way during combat. He wore a simple dark blue shirt, which acted like a second skin. A kunai holster was wrapped around his thigh and a standard ninja back pouch around below his back.

The man was well built, clear evidence of lifelong dedication to a career as a ninja. His hair was flat and ordinary for the most part, but he had a few random strands of hair sticking into random directions.

"Kushina-sama! Good morning! I brought you some coffe- YIKES!"

An astounding amount of sharp and pointy weapons had appeared out of nowhere, targeting the poor man. He ended up in an extremely awkward posture, one foot next to his face, his knee behind his head. Kushina was still covered by a blanket and pillow.

"I guess you still don't like coffee..."

--

Kushina stood outside the simple house and stretched after a massive a yawn. Next to her was the man who tried to bring coffee earlier and a woman. The woman was of the same age as the man, but she had brown hair which was tied to one big bun at the back of her head. She had a slender frame and wore almost the exact same clothes as the man.

After stretching, Kushina checked her inventory. Kunai and shuriken – check. Underwear – check. Katana – check. Forehead protector – check.

She sighed and then smiled at the people next to her.

"Remind me why we're going again?"

"Because we need to stock up on supplies, Kushina-sama... YIKES!" Another barrage of weaponry flew towards the black haired man.

"HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT CALL ME SAMA!? I AM NOT OLD!"

"Sorry, Kushina-sam- OUCH!"

The other woman of the group sighed as a massive sweat drop formed on the back of her head. _'I wonder where she always gets that massive brigade of weapons from...'_

The trio made their way to the shore of the small island and boarded the small boat. They pushed the boat out onto the sea and the black haired man started to row, moving it towards the main island of the island formation."

"You said we need to stock up on supplies? Last time we went, they hardly had anything to sell... That bastard Gato, if I see his face I'll chop it into a fricking salad and feed it to his men."

"Yes that's true... But the last time was two months ago, so maybe things have changed."

"Baku... Things won't change until that bride builder either finishes that bridge or Gato dies. I wish we could help..." Kushina said in a sad tone, looking at the clenched fists. How she hated it to be unable to help! But that bastard Gato never shows his face in the town, he only sends his henchmen to do the terrorising. And if they did try to help the bridge, they would blow their cover of being civilians and not ninja. They couldn't afford to do so, as Gato would most likely hunt them with his army. Even though they were high ranking Shinobi, they wouldn't last against a horde of thugs without killing them.

With that, the three reached the island and walked towards the town, henge already applied. Kushina hardly changed her appearance, she just hid her weaponry. The man, now known as Baku, looked like he wore a white shirt with medium height shorts, making him look like one of the locals. The woman now had short black hair, with some of the bangs covering her eyes. She wore brown clothing, also passing as a villager.

--

Naruto was in the forest, surrounded by a good amount of craters and holes in trees. He almost completed the Rasengan! _'Okay. I can do it once every three tries. Almost there!'_

This day, Sasuke and Kakashi were at the bridge, with Hinata staying at home with Tsunami and Inari. Naruto had deployed around 50 clones of himself inside and outside the house, making sure to watch over them. Another 100 clones were sent to the bridge to once again help with the construction.

His mind sadly remembered how he was walking through the streets and a kid, no older than four, tried to steal his wallet. At first, he was quite angry, but once he saw the desperate look in the eye of the child, he couldn't help but to feel sorry for the child. He gave the boy some spare money and told him to get some food. The boy had flashed him a very thankful smile before running off. That day, the boy would be able to have a proper meal, and Naruto felt good for helping the child out. Then he realised how many more people there were, all of them having to live of the most basic of the basic essentials, all due to Gato's illegal and disgusting doing.

This again ignited Naruto's rage, the wish to kill Gato becoming active again. All he needed to do is help Tazuna finish the bridge and then kill Gato, once he dared to show his face around the main village. Pushing the thoughts from his mind, he started to once again channel the chakra into his hands.

--

Kushina was wandering through the forests, picking herbs. Her two companions were in the village, looking for supplies. She couldn't bear walking around in the village, as she would get too depressed at the sight of all the misery. A sudden spike in chakra nearby startled her. She looked up, wondering what that could've been. As far as she knew, there was no type of ninja on the island, and no citizen here could use any type of chakra.

Her natural curiosity getting the better of her, she decided to see what was going on. The red haired woman jumped into the trees and went to the place she felt the chakra come from.

--

Naruto was sitting on the ground, looking pretty beaten. He was still at the stage of being able to from the Rasengan one handed once every three times. He closed his eyes and thought about the process he had to go through to create the deadly orb of doom. He was about to get up, but something stopped him from doing so. His senses alerted him... Was there someone watching?

"_Kyuubi. You sense that?"_

"**Hmm. Yes... oh, what a nice smell. It seems that we're being watched."**

"_Anything you can tell me about the person?"_

"**Nah, she just smells nice. Oh, it's a she, or a very gender confused male. She is sitting in the big oak behind us. Considering the fact that she is sitting in a tree, I assume she's a ninja, one that we don't know."**

Without replying, Naruto jumped around at a very high speed, unleashing a few kunai and shuriken.

Kushina acted on instinct, dodging the flying weapons.

Naruto just saw a blur, the person jumping out of the tree onto the next one. _'Woah, FAST!'_

He turned, and threw two shuriken. **"Shuriken Kage Bushin no Jutsu!"** Instead of two, over a dozen shuriken flew towards the target.

Once again, Kushina reacted on instinct. Her Katana appeared in her elegant hands, easily blocking the incoming projectiles. She once again jumped, landing on the next tree. That kid was good if he was able to use the Shadow Shuriken clone.

Then, she landed on another large branch, with the sun in her back. A slight breeze went through the clearing, making her long crimson hair subtly flow with the wind. Her Katana in one hand, she stood upright, looking down to the boy who had attacked her.

Naruto stood in the clearing, a kunai in his left hand. He was quite tired from practising the Rasengan, but hell he wouldn't back down from a fight. Whoever this person was, she was fast and managed to block his weapons with no trouble whatsoever.

Then, Naruto got to study his opponent for the first time.

Then, Kushina got to study her opponent for the first time.

The two of them made their first eye contact.

And both of them were shocked. Everyone one was shocked, including Minato and Kyuubi.

To Naruto, she looked like a goddess, the sun making her have a slightly glowing outline. To Kushina, he looked like what she thought she had lost all those years ago.

"... Minato!?"

**--**

**A/N: DATTEBAYO! Yes, I know it's late. But it is longer than usual, and I think it's quite good. I won't bother you with excuses why I didn't update. Just accept it. **

**Once again, I thank you, Kitsunegamer! You are the greatest.**

**Keep those amazing jutsu coming! They are great, and I am planning to use a whole lot of them in the next chapters. Hehe.**

**NJOY! Laters!**

**Matimac.  
**


	12. The Battle Begins!

Sealed Within – Chapter 11

The battle begins!

To say that Minato was shocked would be like saying the sky is blue. A massive understatement. To say that Kushina was shocked was like saying she tended to occasionally enjoy ramen. An even bigger understatement. To say that Naruto was confused was like saying that... that he had blue eyes. A true fact.

Kushina stood there, perplex. _'NO! That... That is impossible! He's a fake!'_ Even though she thought that, she found herself unable to move. All she could do was to stare into his amazing blue eyes, which looked exactly like the ones she had spent hours staring into years before. His hair had the same tone, the same wild spikes.

Naruto was in a very similar position. This woman looked somewhat familiar to him. She looked like someone he should know. There was something about her, but damn, he just couldn't put a finger on it.

--

At the bridge, Kakashi was giggling like a girl. He had just reached the extra juicy part of his smutty book. And knowing Jiraiya, he knew this scene was based on actual events. _'Jiraiya-sama, where do you get this amazing stuff.... I mean six at a time? Hehe...'_

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the antics of his sensei. Of course, he knew that Kakashi was one of the strongest shinobi in the village, famous at home and infamous everywhere else. He patrolled the bridge, observing the workers and the hundreds of Naruto clones doing their job. It was kind of boring, so he did some basic chakra control exercises, deciding that improving chakra control was always good.

The daily lunch break was coming up, so most workers went back to their homes to eat. After an hour, they would return to continue building the bridge. Normally they would take their lunch and eat at the bridge, but Tazuna allowed them to go home thanks to the Kage Bushins that led to the bridge being constructed a lot faster. Tazuna would always stay back, eating at the bridge, still directing the brute workforce. Then, it happened...

Both Kakashi and Sasuke could feel it. Kakashi closed the book with a snap and Sasuke stopped his training and joined his sensei. Instantly, the two hundred clones shifted from being labourers into being ninjas. 200 frowning faces observed the surrounding area. Two clones dragged Tazuna away from his plateau and the small army formed a protective perimeter around Kakashi, Sasuke and Tazuna.

The mist started to thicken.

--

'_Grr, how dare he mess with my mind!? HE MUST BE A FAKE!' _Kushina overcame her initial shock and tightened her grip on her beloved sword. With a furious cry, she leaped down from the tree and charged at Naruto. Naruto, reacting on pure instinct, leaped away, confused. Something inside him told him that the two shouldn't be fighting, but he didn't have too much of a choice as the woman charged towards him again, the sword aimed at his head.

This time, Naruto ducked under the blow. _'FUCK! She's too damn fast! What the hell is this feeling...? I shouldn't be fighting her! Shit, I don't have a choice!'_

Naruto aimed a quick kick at her stomach, but the woman displayed even faster reaction time and flexibility as she spun and grabbed his ankle. Naruto's taijutsu had improved by leaps and bounds, but he wasn't prepared to fight such a strong enemy. Kushina took her katana and aimed for Naruto's thigh, intending to reduce Naruto's limbs by one.

Minato was the one saving Naruto. He focused, lending Naruto his ability. Minato focused on one of the kunai Naruto had used earlier. _'Hiraishin!' _Minato did not want to let people know that Naruto was using the trikunai, so they engraved the seals for the Hiraishin into Naruto's standard kunai.

The razor sharp blade cut nothing but air. Kushina was surprised; her enemy had disappeared into thin air.

Mentally thanking his father, Naruto found himself below a tree. Even though he felt it was wrong, he couldn't do anything else but treat this as a serious fight. He didn't know who she was, but he could get his answers later, after he tied her to a tree.

"I don't know what your damn problem is, but I won't hold back!" Not bothering to wait for a response, he formed his now favourite hand seal. **"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!"**

Twenty clones surrounded the original and started to attack Kushina. She too had the feeling that fighting this boy was wrong. But he didn't give her any other options, right? With a determined nod, the crimson haired woman readied her sword, pointing it at the closest Kage Bushin. With a collective roar, the clones charged, the original disappearing in the trees, preparing the next attack. He expected his clones to buy him a few minutes at least, but sadly, Naruto was disappointed. In less than a minute, Kushina had cut down half of his clones. As he received the memories, Naruto started to realise that she was a sword master, the sword being an extension of her will. Like a third arm, just pointy. And sharp. And deadly.

'_I didn't want to use this... But if she's as good as she seems to be, she should be able to dodge.'_ Thinking that, Naruto formed a single seal with his hands and focused on the chakras of his remaining clones. Before he could complete the jutsu, another five clones were cut down. The other five clones started to glow, literally. Kushina's eyes widened, recognizing the signs...

**Boom.**

The clones exploded, with Kushina managing to dodge just in time. The explosion left a large crater in the forest, sending dirt and mud flying all over the place. Naruto nodded to himself, she did manage to escape certain death. Kushina was standing on a tree's larger branch, looking down at the crater. _'Kage Bushin, eh? Well, that's a game two people can play...'_

"**Kage Bushin no Jutsu!"** Naruto's eyes widened when he saw a clearing filled by at least fifty clones. If she could make more than five clones, she must have very large chakra reserves and amounts of stamina. Like him.

Kushina extended her senses, looking for the blonde kid. If he could use Kage Bushin to that extent, she would have to wait until she got answers. Fight first, and then talk. After she tied him to a tree, that is.

Naruto wasn't sure what the best course of action would be. He had the option of running away. Of course, being the stubborn person he was, he immediately crossed out that idea. If he had to face her alone, he would have a chance, but he couldn't take on fifty clones of her, he wasn't that suicidal. _'I know some jutsu... I could try the Rasengan, but I don't know which one the real one is! Hmm...'_

"_Dad?" _Naruto mentally asked, deciding that he needed help if he wanted to fight this person. Minato had been quiet lately, not really engaging in too much conversation with Naruto. When Minato didn't reply, Kyuubi did.

"**Euh... I don't know how to say this kiddo, but your dad won't be too much of a help."**

"_What!?"_

"**Yeah... Ever since we saw that woman's face, he left my cage, stepped outside and created a Mental Barrier around himself!"**

"_What's a Mental Barrier!?"_

'_**Shit, I forgot that he doesn't know about it...' **_**"Eh, the Mental Barrier is something.... it's hard to explain! It's like an isolation thingo... Like, when we create one, you don't know what we are talking about. It kinda blocks you from listening to us. But this time, Minato created a circular one, around him."**

"_Can you get him out of it? Because now is about the worst time to keep his thoughts from us! If this woman gets serious, I might end up with a leg or arm shorter!"_

"**Well, I can help."**

"_YOU!? Yeah... I guess I don't have another choice! Think we can do that shockwave thingy again? The one we used against the Hyuugas?"_

"**Hehe... I thought you'd never ask..."**

Naruto felt the red, powerful, chakra enter his system. He felt the power rush through him, giving him a faint red silhouette. As much as Kyuubi didn't like it, he made sure to give the kid a small amount of chakra only. If he gave him more, Naruto's physical appearance would start to change again, claws, fangs, deeper and more pronounced whiskers and all that. If he did that, this person would damn well know just who was residing inside Naruto, and would certainly come at him with the will to kill.

From his hiding spot, Naruto leapt high into the air. He looked downwards, seeing the clones standing quite near to another. Kushina felt the sudden spike in chakra, and looked upwards. Unfortunately, her clones weren't as fast as her.

Like a meteor, Naruto came down from the sky with incredible speed, the chakra around his feet forming a spear like shape. The spear's head wasn't pointy though; it was rather rounded, used for more blunt impact attacks.

"**Kitsune Shockwave!"**

The meteor hit the clearing, creating another crater, a massive shockwave emitting from the centre. Many of the Kage Bushins were expelled simply by the force of the shockwave. The rest were sent flying and were dispelled as they hit each other, rocks or trees. The original Kushina glued herself to the tree with chakra, shocked by the force this kid was using.

As the dust settled, Naruto climbed out of the crater. His was surprised by the result, as it was way more powerful than the one he had used against the white eyed bastards. He looked around, realising that all the clones were dispelled. With enhanced senses, he searched for his opponent, only to find her sitting in a tree behind him, again.

Kushina readied her sword. She had never seen an attack like that, and it made her realise that he had to treat this kid very seriously. She focused a little and channelled her chakra into her blade. The blade started to glow, the occasional blue spark coming from the blade. Naruto's eyes saw all of that in a second. The glowing sword was radiating with power. Kushina leaped from the tree, sword at her side. As soon as she landed on the ground, her chakra strengthened legs kicked in and she dashed towards the blonde kid with magnificent blue eyes.

Naruto's hand was brought to his side, his elbow slightly angled. Without even focusing too much, the blue orb of light started to manifest in his palm. The orb was of incredible beauty, spinning like a hardly contained beast, waiting to be released from its prison. His eyes were still as blue as always and he prepared to clash with the foreign shinobi. Focusing the Kyuubi's chakra, he directed it towards his legs and started his own dash.

Twenty Meters.

Fifteen Meters.

Ten Meters.

Five Meters.

Two Meters.

One Meter.

A hand with a grip of iron caught Naruto's wrist. The grip was too strong and Naruto lost focus on the Rasengan, dispelling it instantly.

A hand with a grip of iron caught Kushina's wrist. The grip was too strong, and she reflexively dropped her sword.

Between the two was a man. He wore black sandals, black pants, a black shirt, a standard Jonin vest. On top of all that, he wore a cape. The cape reached past his knees. It was white, and had orange flames decorating the sleeves and hem of the cape. His hair was spiky beyond imagination, sticking into random direction. His face was host to two azure blue orbs.

"That's enough, Kushina, Naruto."

You've probably heard of him.

Namikaze Minato.

--

Hinata had felt that strong, weird chakra coming from the forest. She wasn't sure of what to do. Her curiosity told her to go and investigate, but she had a duty to fulfil. The radio she carried around started to buzz.

"Hinata, Naruto," a familiar voice came from the radio, "to the bridge. Now."

The clones heard it as well, some preparing to leave to go the bridge. Hinata quickly made a decision.

"Narutos! All of you stay here with Inari and Tsunami-san! I'll go the bridge! If the original Naruto comes back, tell him to get to the bridge!"

"But Hinata-chan-"

"No buts! There are over two hundred of you at the bridge, no need for another fifty to come! Protect the two at all costs!" With that, the young Hyuuga exited through the nearest window and dashed to the bridge.

"Jeez, Hinata-chan is all scary when it's serious!" A random Naruto shouted out.

"Yeah I agree!"

"You two bakas! Hinata-chan is amazing!"

"Not when she's scary!"

"Yes, then too!"

"NO!"

"YES!"

"WANNA FIGHT ABOUT IT!?"

"YEAH LET'S TAKE IT OUTSIDE, IDIOT!"

"Haha, he just called himself an idiot!"

"No, he called US an idiot! It's like making a mom joke on your sister."

Tsunami and her son had the biggest sweat drops at the interactions of the Narutos.

--

Kakashi and Sasuke stood back to back, the clones surrounding them.

"I am quite sure that this is the doing of Zabuza, he's a missing nin from Kiri. Be careful, he's listed in several bingo books and is the master of the silent kill inside the mist. Keep your guard up."

Sasuke barely nodded.

**Poof. Poof. Poof.**

The noises were quite obvious. Clones were being dispelled. The sounds continued, and stopped after a while. The mist was extremely thick now; one could barely see a meter ahead of oneself.

"I see... That's why the Demon Brothers did not return. Kakashi of the Sharingan, the Copy Nin of Konoha... The man who copied over a thousand individual techniques... It's an honour to meet you." A deep voice said from somewhere within the mist.

"Momochi Zabuza, also known as the Demon of the Hidden Mist. A member of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shū, the infamous seven swordsmen. You killed a hundred students while being a student yourself, hence your nickname. Tried to overthrow the Mizukage but failed and became a renegade. And now, I assume, you work for Gato... Well, the pleasure is all mine." Kakashi summarised, a slight grin beneath his mask. After getting his ass handed to him by his students during the bell test, he had done a lot of personal training and worked on a few techniques.

Sasuke almost sighed. _'Great, ANOTHER nutcase.'_

"I see you know what you're talking about, Kakashi... How about we make a deal? I get the builder and I leave, none of your little wannabe Genin injured."

Before Kakashi could reply, Sasuke spoke up, quite angered at the insult. "How about you shut the fuck up and wait until someone cares about what you want?"

"Oho, a funny one you have there, Kakashi. Not worthy of being a ninja, though. No muscle definition, he looks weak. His dark hair... Hmm, is he an Uchiha?"

Kakashi shook his head at Sasuke's outburst and nudged him in the shoulder.

"Well, I guess that's a no then. Haku, it seems we have to use force."

'_Haku? So my sense didn't fool me, he didn't come alone.'_

"Yes, Zabuza-sama."

"Get ready, Kakashi..."

And with that, more of Naruto's confused clones were dispelled.

**A/N!**

**YOSH! I have decided. I will, from now on, make smaller chapters, but update more frequently. This chapter builds a lot of suspense I think... :D**

**More fighting next chapter.**

**Oh yeah, credit for Kitsune Shockwave and Mental Barrier go to myself.**

**Once again, a big THANKS goes out to kitsunegamer375**

**NJOY, laterz!**


	13. Preparation!

Sealed Within – Chapter 12

Preparation.

The Naruto clones were in a great pit of confusion. Because of the thick mist, most of them ended up fighting one another instead of looking for Zabuza.

It took a few minutes, but eventually, only ten clones remained. Kakashi quickly took command and ordered the clones to follow his chakra and join him and Sasuke. Only three clones made it. Zabuza and his partner had managed to destroy over 190 clones in a matter of minutes.

Then, a silence fell upon the ninja inside the mist. No one made a move, no one made a sound. The tension was so heavy that Tazuna thought he could use a knife to cut it apart. Each muscle in Sasuke's body was tense, ready to take any evasive action.

Then it began. A deadly game of Hide and Seek within the mist. Trip and you die.

Sasuke was assaulted by several senbon needles while Kakashi had to dodge the massive blade that Zabuza swung around with what appeared to be no effort at all. The tip came uncomfortably close to Kakashi's mask, forcing him to leap backwards. His senses kicked in quickly as he felt another incoming attack from right behind him. _'Mizu Bushin!?'_

This time doing a backward flip to avoid the blade, Kakashi barely managed to dodge a third blade by ducking below it. His hands shot to his shuriken and kunai holster and he sent one of the weapons into Zabuza's leg. The clone looked surprised before turning blue and turning into nothing but a watery puddle.

Before the second clone could react, it made a not so pleasant contact with Kakashi's fist.

Sasuke blocked the needles without too much effort. He jumped and evaded another pair of needles before throwing his own share of shuriken. He looked around, looking for his opponent.

Haku was hidden in the mist, yet he knew exactly where Sasuke was. The gentle boy used senbon needles to gauge the reaction time of this Genin and what would be quickest, non lethal way to knock him out.

Zabuza knew that Kakashi was now getting serious. This forced him to lose concentration and led to the mist starting to lose a good deal of its density, but it was still not that easy to see. Sasuke guessed that he was able to see about twenty meters in front of him before the mist got too thick.

Suddenly, the other person appeared. His opponent. Wearing a mask, Sasuke couldn't tell the gender of the person or how old he or she was. His opponent was about as tall as Sasuke himself, and seemed very calm. Not bothering with pleasantries, Sasuke fired up his first attack.

"**Katon: Kawa no Kaki no Jutsu!"**

A stream of steaming hot fire shot from the Uchiha's mouth, flying towards Haku. The stream was shot in a straight line, so Haku managed to dodge to the side. Mentally, Sasuke grinned, as he swung his head around. Following his head's movements, the stream of fire complied, giving it the effect of a whip as it shot towards Haku. This time Haku leaped into the air and threw more senbon. This forced Sasuke to break his concentration on the technique in order to dodge. Haku stood opposite of him, wondering what to do next.

'_I shouldn't be wasting senbon needles. Well...'_

"**Water release: Flying Needles!"**

After performing a short sequence of seals, about a dozen needles of water formed in the air around Haku and flew towards Sasuke. Surprised at the speed they flew towards him, the Uchiha prodigy couldn't evade all of them. Two of the needles got him in the leg, another one in the right arm.

With a grunt, he pulled the needles out and focused once more. This guy couldn't be a lot older than him! But those needles were damn fast...

A bit further away, Kakashi was having his own battle. He was engaging Zabuza in quick taijutsu. Both men had to dodge, defend and attack.

Too bad that the nice game of Hide, Seek and Kill was about to be interrupted by someone who didn't like the game.

Hinata was unbelievably silent, suppressing her chakra perfectly, not even allowing enough chakra to seep though to be confused with a bird or another small animal. Kakashi managed to block one of Zabuza's attacks and kicked him in the stomach, sending the man a few meters back.

Zabuza got ready for another attack, but silent, almost shy voice spoke up behind him.

"Uhm... Y-you are within my field of d-divination..."

"**Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms!"**

Hinata's Byakugan was blazing, already knowing where Zabuza's tenketsu were. She had no trouble seeing through the mist with her kekkei genkai once she reached the bridge. After she observed the enemy for a few moments, she decided that Zabuza was the more dangerous one.

Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms wasn't the fully developed form. She knew about the forms where she would hit sixty four or even one hundred and twenty eight chakra points of her opponent's body, but she wasn't that fast or strong yet. These attacks were exclusive to the Main Branch of the Hyuuga Clan. Her clan expected her to master Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms by the age of thirteen, another thing Hinata apparently failed to do.

But this was the best she could do right now, and it should more than enough to make it almost impossible for Zabuza to access any sort of chakra. The attack lasted for less than ten seconds, but it was devastating. Zabuza's body felt numb and he didn't feel any of his chakra. With a last ditched effort, he leaped backwards, away from the newcomer and Kakashi.

Kakashi was also surprised to see his student show up and completely catch the two of them by surprise. If he was honest with himself, he was very glad that Hinata had arrived. Kakashi didn't want to rely on his Sharingan yet.

As soon as Zabuza had been attacked, Haku stopped engaging Sasuke and went to back up his master. Haku was shocked that Zabuza could hardly move or use chakra.

Without further ado, Haku leaped to Zabuza's side to stabilise him. Totally anti-climatic, the two disappeared in a splash of water, not even giving any promises of revenge or return.

Kakashi sat down on the spot where he was standing and gave an audible sigh. Hinata's appearance had saved the two a whole lot of trouble and prevented further injuries on their side. Hinata quickly hurried over to Sasuke and put his damaged arm around her shoulder, making sure he wouldn't just fall over. Sasuke wasn't too exhausted, but he didn't refuse Hinata's help.

--

Back in the forest, no one moved.

Kushina didn't move.

Naruto didn't move.

Minato didn't move.

"D-Dad?" Naruto asked confused. Wasn't Minato inside that mental barrier?

But Minato ignored his son for a moment and fixed his gaze upon the opponent. The world around Kushina disappeared. All that remained was Minato's face; something she thought was lost a long time ago. He looked just like she remembered him, maybe a little older, but same nonetheless. Her eyes locked onto his, unable to look anywhere else. The orbs were mesmerising to her. After what seemed to be an eternity, raw emotions flew across her face.

Hope.

Confusion.

Anger.

Love.

It was too much for Kushina. For the first time since Minato proposed to her, she fainted.

--

Hinata bandaged Sasuke's wounds, much to the boy's annoyance. It wasn't actually annoyance; it was rather concern for the girl's health. If ANYONE in Konoha found out that she saw him without a shirt, she'd have an insane amount of enraged fan girls (and boys) chasing after the shy Hyuuga. Being uncharacteristically mean, the Uchiha decided to tease the girl.

"You know Hinata, Naruto would be very, very jealous if he knew that you've seen me like this; shirtless and all."

Hinata immediately went tomato, and tried to focus on tending to Sasuke's wounds. But knowing that Sasuke was joking, she decided to retaliate with something Naruto would've said, which was just as uncharacteristic for her.

"Um... Sasuke-kun... I don't know why so many girls like you."

"What?"

"You're not that good looking..." She boldly pinched his biceps. "You don't have that much muscle and you're body isn't as defined as Nar-... eh, you're a bit pale..."

Sasuke's natural reaction was wide eyes. NO one had EVER suggested that the Uchiha wasn't good looking! Every Uchiha was good looking! It was natural for them! Even though it could be tedious to fend off all the girls... But his team mate, who he knew as a shy and reserved person just told him off! Rejected him! Told him that he wasn't good looking!

After a moment of silence, Sasuke started to smile. His smile expanded, and he started to laugh loudly, something he hadn't done in a long time. Hinata looked at him in confusion, just finishing his bandages.

"I see why Naruto likes you so much, Hinata. You're probably the first girl who boldly stated that she doesn't "dig" my looks! You're spending too much time with him; the dobe is starting to rub off on you!"

Hinata had just recovered from being a tomato, but her face had other ideas as it went red again. She still managed to smile at Sasuke and handed him his shirt as the door opened to reveal a certain Jonin with a certain book in his right hand. He lazily waved with his left and sat down on the chair next to Hinata's.

"Have you bandaged all his wounds, Hinata?"

"Yes, sensei."

"Yeah, thanks for that Hinata." Sasuke added as he adjusted his shirt. Even though he hid it, Hinata did leave a small sting in his pride when she pointed out that he was rather on the pale side and didn't have much muscle. _'Then I'll become stronger and blow her away with the amazingness that my body is!'_

"Good job. Where did Naruto go after we went to the bridge?"

"He went to the forest to train, I think."

"He's been training for quite some time then."

"Yes..."

"Well, we haven't taken too much damage, so I guess we can tell him what happened when he returns. That jutsu you used on Zabuza closed off his tenketsu, right?"

"Yes, it closed off all his main points."

"That was very good Hinata, not even I sensed your presence. Your jutsu probably saved us from further injury. Team Seven has all the reason to be proud of you!"

Her face darkened further when she was praised. It was bad enough when Naruto praised her, always leading her to the verge of fainting, but hearing the rest of the team saying that made her blush just as much.

"Anyway, how long do you think the tenketsu will stay closed?"

Hinata thought about it for a few moments. "I think Zabuza will be unable to use chakra for at least two days, maybe three, mainly because I doubt that they know how to re-open tenketsu easily. They will re-open naturally after some time, but it would be very painful if Zabuza tried to open them forcefully."

"Good. That will give us time to prepare for the next encounter. Sasuke, what can you tell us about that kid you fought against?"

"Hn. My opponent wore a mask, so I couldn't tell the gender of the person, but he or she seemed to be about our age, considering the height and build. I'll assume that it's a male person because his voice sounded more male than female. Anyway, he fought me with great speed, senbon needles and a water jutsu that creates solid, sharp needles from water. His attacks had good accuracy, but he didn't use any lethal jutsu, which I find confusing. I attacked him with an attack that would've severely burned him, yet he retaliated with a rather weak technique."

Kakashi nodded again, thinking about the information. "Alright, we need to come up with a plan to capture or kill them when they attack us next time."

Hinata paled a bit. "K-Kill...?"

"Yes Hinata. Those renegades came at us with the intent to kill. We have to do the same, or we will end up dying. Killing is a part of ninja life. Yes, I know that it's your first mission outside of Konoha, but it was you guys who wanted to help Tazuna build that bridge, even though I warned you of the possible threats!"

Hinata closed her eyes and nodded. _'I won't weigh the team down! I will do my best, for Naruto-kun!'_

--

Minato had gently placed Kushina against a tree, waiting for her to awaken from her unconscious state. He sat down opposite to her sleeping form, dragging Naruto with him. The older of the two looked somewhat depressed, seemingly not knowing what to say. Naruto was a different story, as he was rather irritated at his father's actions.

"Dad, you better explain what the hell is going on, right now!"

Minato closed his eyes for a second and sighed. "Okay, but promise me that you won't scream around."

"Whatever!"

"Alright. This woman..." Minato paused and touched her forehead, dispelling the henge that hid her forehead protector, "... She's from the Land of the Whirlpool."

"So?"

"Naruto... The Land of the Whirlpool was a rather small country. Due to some... events in the past, it no longer exists, and there are only a dozen or so people who still belong to the former country. They have fled and are now spread across the continent."

"What's that got to do with the situation at hand!?"

"I personally know only one person who's from that country."

"You know her?"

"Yes."

"Well, who is she?"

"Naruto... This may sound incredible. Remember to not scream around, okay?"

"Yeah, so what's so special about her? Sure, she looks good..."

"Son, this woman's name is Uzumaki Kushina."

Silence.

"K-Kushina... a-as in... U-Uzumaki.... K-Kushina...?"

"Yes, Uzumaki Kushina. My wife... and your mother."

A second later, Minato had to deal with two unconscious people.

**A/N:**

There have been many reviews saying that people are looking forward to this chapter. I kinda had a hard time writing this one. And I am aware that this doesn't fulfil the expectations you guys have, because it further adds to the suspense. Next chapter should give you the kicks.

Ehm. Also, I've decided that I will completely rewrite the earlier chapters (probably prologue until Chapter 9). Why? Because they suck. They don't even come close to the standard of my latest chapters, I think. My main focus will be on Naruto's confession, as it is WAY too rushed. I'll maybe add a few minor things. And probably change the fact that Naruto tells Sasuke and Hinata about Kyuubi after two days, as I now realise how illogical that is. Any thoughts? Recommendations? More jutsus for me? Because I always need some. Oh, and another shout to the amazing kitsunegamer375, for all his effort in helping and sending me over 30 jutsu... :D

OH! **"Katon: Kawa no Kaki no Jutsu!" is by The Epitome of Eccentricity! Credit and many thanks go out to him!**


	14. Togehter!

Sealed Within – Chapter 13: Together.

**A/N: **Sup y'all. Before we get this baby goin', I'd like to say that the interaction between Sasuke and Hinata in the last chapter was for pure comedic purposes only. They will not engage in any other relationship besides being good friends as well as team mates. Sasuke will get someone else. More at the end...

Kushina awoke a lot earlier than Naruto did. That was mainly because Naruto was in a conversation with his second favourite tenant, a certain demonic, sadistic, and most of all, sarcastic fox.

Minato decided to ignore Kyuubi and focus on Kushina who started stirring from her involuntary slumber. She slowly opened her eyes, not really remembering what happened. The woman rubbed her eyes and sat up, realising that she had been leaning against a tree or something with a similarly hard surface.

Her head turned to the right. Merely inches away from her face was his face. If he leaned forward, their noses would surely collide.

Kushina wanted to run. Leap away. Scream. Fight. Escape.

Unfortunately, that's when she noticed the weight that restricted her lower body. The unconscious form of Uzumaki Naruto was feeling quite comfortable in her lap, his head placed just above her left knee and his shoulders blocking her right knee. She wanted to pull her leg away in panic, but Naruto had other plans as he turned, hugging her leg. Kushina wanted to pull her other leg away, but Naruto sleepily placed one of his arms onto the leg, mumbling something, much to Minato's amusement.

She hit the back of his head without much success.

"I'll get him off you if you are willing to listen to me, Kushina." Minato offered with a smile. He didn't know that Naruto could be that helpful, even in an unconscious state.

"Shut up! You're a FAKE!" She yelled at him in denial, once again trying to get away from his face which still was mere inches away from her face. And once again, Naruto proved to be immovable as he happily sighed, most likely dreaming of something involving ramen.

"No, Kushina, I'm not."

"YES YOU ARE!"

"What do I have to do to prove that I am the real Minato?" He asked, with sincere patience. It had been years since his death, her denial was only natural, Minato figured.

Kushina didn't reply immediately. After a minute or two...

"You... can't be Minato. Because... my husband... and my son... are dead." She finally said, a sad look crossing her face, despite the situation she was in.

Minato sighed, his face also assuming a sad expression. "Okay... I'll tell you something Kushina. Something only I could know." With that, Minato leaned over a bit and whispered into her ear and gently took her hand. "The night after we got married, we..."

Whatever Minato told her, it made Kushina's face rediscover shades of red she had long forgotten. Minato moved his head back again, feeling amused and strangely satisfied with his result.

Still holding her hand, he looked straight into her eyes. "If you still don't believe me... Let me show you."

After channelling chakra into the hand he held hers with, he placed their two hands onto the forehead of the stamina bundle that was commonly referred to as Naruto.

For Kushina and Minato, everything went white.

--

Baku and his companion ended up buying nothing at all. They would've gladly bought something, but there simply wasn't _anything_ they could buy. Feeling a whole lot more depressed than usual, the two started to search for the woman their previous Hokage entrusted them with. After searching for almost an hour without finding Kushina, they walking into a dark side street. The woman, whose name was still unknown, formed two hand seals before concentrating with closed eyes. It took her a few minutes to find the unique chakra signature of her target. Before she retracted her senses, her she accidentally stumbled across a different chakra signature. The person had massive chakra capacities, easily twice as much as Kushina, who had an abnormal amount.

As she pulled her senses back, she stumbled across another set of chakra signatures. They definitely belonged to ninja. One of them felt strangely familiar.

Her eyes widened upon realization.

--

The day was nearing its end and Naruto still hadn't returned, making Kakashi and Hinata grow nervous, concerned for the boy. Sasuke knew that Naruto was too stubborn to die, so he didn't worry.

When the sun was to descend, Kakashi decided that they should go and search for him.

"Clones! Stay here! We're gonna go and search for the original." Team 7 left the house in search for their teammate.

--

When Kushina opened her eyes, she found herself standing in front of a huge cage, still holding Minato's hand. Her doubts were slowly starting to fade when Minato told her what he did earlier...

In front of the cage sat a boy. He was facing the two of them, once again looking utterly confused. His head was tilted to the side as he examined the woman that apparently was his mother.

Minato pulled on her hand and forced her to follow his approach towards Naruto and the cage.

"Hey dad..." Naruto started carefully, trying to ignore the red haired woman.

"Hi Naruto. If our furry friend didn't tell you already – you passed out."

"Yeah..."

"Naruto, Kushina... As hard it may be for the both of you to believe... Naruto, this is your mother, Uzumaki Kushina. Kushina, this is our son, Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto."

"It... can't be..." Both of them managed to say at the same time, both not believing the words Minato spoke.

'_It CAN'T be! Minato's dead!' _Kushina mentally screamed, _'But... then why does this feel so right...?'_

Minato nodded. _'Okay. Time to play Plan B.'_

"Naruto, I know this is shocking for you. I'm quite surprised myself to see you around here, Kushina. But Kushina, this may be able to change your mind." Minato turned to the cage and formed a cone around his mouth with his hands. "YO UGLY FURBALL! GET YOUR FURRY TAILS OVER HERE!"

A deep rumbling noise could be heard behind the cage. Kushina felt Minato's hand squeeze hers a little.

A pair of deep, animalistic, red eyes appeared behind the cage. The eyes weren't that big, Kyuubi had scaled his size down by half. He was still towering over the humans, but he wasn't as big as he used to be.

"**YOU'RE THE TO TALK! BLONDE HAIR AND BLUE EYES!? WHAT IS THIS, FINDING FUCKING NEMO OR TELETUBBIES!?"** An enrage kitsune yelled back at Minato. **"I AM THE GREAT KYUUBI NO KITSUNE, KYUUBI NO YOKO! THE DEMON LORD, MASTER OF DESTRUCTION AND-"**

"And master of being fricking annoying, Kyuubi no BAKA! Cut the damn act! And change your fur colour back to red; you're not the blue power ranger!" Naruto yelled back at the fox. It was true though, the 'oh so evil' fox had changed its colour to blue.

Kyuubi mocked a sniffle. With what one could consider a highly offended, but deeply hurt expression, he mumbled something along the lines of **"Power Rangers are awesome..."**

Kushina followed the interaction between the blonde boy and fox with wide eyes. "Just... just where exactly... are we?"

Kyuubi took it upon himself to answer her question with as much detail as possible. **"We're inside this blond nutshell's mind, where I happen to reside because of that retard called Yondaime Hokage who didn't have any better things to do than sealing me in here. I've been here for the past twelve years, doing NOTHING!"**

"You're.... the Kyuubi?"

"**We have established that."**

"You were sealed... twelve years ago..."

"**Unfortunately."**

"... Into... my son..."

"**No shit."**

"... By... my... Husband.... Namikaze...-"

"Minato." Minato finished for her. "You have to believe me, Kushina. There is only one demon in the world like this, and you know it! This is Naruto! Kushina, I AM the real Minato! Your Husband! You know that only I could seal Kyuubi! And you KNOW where I sealed Kyuubi into! You KNOW that I sealed the Kyuubi into NARUTO, Kushina! OPEN YOUR EYES, KUSHINA! YOU KNOW DAMN WELL THAT THIS IS THE TRUTH! KUSHINA!" Minato yelled at her while shaking her rather roughly to get his message communicated to her.

Kushina didn't move. Naruto felt a strong connection to this woman and automatically moved towards her. Without thinking, he embraced her, his head only reaching up to her chest. She froze at the contact.

The emotions came like a tidal wave. Like a Tsunami crashing into the shore. Before Kushina could move, Minato closed his arms around both his son and his long lost wife, holding them close.

Tears started to form. In all the pairs of eyes.

Tears started to fall.

The Namikaze family was crying embracing another like a family should.

Kyuubi took a picture.

Naruto's grip was the strongest. He hung onto his mother with all his might, letting his emotions get the better of him. His tears were of pure joy, being very similar to the ones he shed when he had first met his father.

Kushina was crying tears of happiness and relief. For the past 12 years she had locked her emotions away, not wanting to think of Konoha or her deceased family. It all had changed within a day. Her beloved husband was still alive! Her son was alive! The tears continued to flow, tears that should've been shed a long time ago.

Minato cried for the same reasons as his wife. He thought it would take another decade to see her, as he didn't know how to tell Naruto that his mother was most likely alive.

Naruto broke to his knees, pulling his parents with him. The last time he had shed tears in happiness was when he found out that he still has a father. He spent twelve years of his life living in isolation, alone without any person close to him.

"Mum... Dad..." Naruto cried between his sobs of emotion.

During the emotional scene of the united family, something strange happened. Once again, everything flashed white. Naruto was gone and so was the Kyuubi.

Minato and Kushina found themselves still embraced, but instantly noticed Naruto's absence. Confused, the two parents rose to their feet, looking for their son.

"What happened?" Kushina asked with confusion obvious in her voice.

"I have no clue." Minato replied.

They were surrounded by light. White light. It came from an undefined source, illuminating their location while not shining too bright. Kushina looked at Minato, who looked back at her. To their mutual surprise, both of their bodies started to turn transparent. Before they could ask what the hell was happening, a kaleidoscope of colours consumed the space surrounding them.

The light was replaced with familiar scenery. What they saw was Konohagakure.

Then they realised.

They were looking at Naruto's memories.

His childhood.

And all the pain that came with it.

--

Haku was busy brewing a remedy for Zabuza. Zabuza could move to some extent, but could not access his chakra because if that strange attack the girl had used on him. When they returned to their hideout, Zabuza had been furious, in every sense of the word. He tried to access his chakra forcefully, but Haku quickly stopped him, warning him of the possibility of him increasing the damage. Zabuza reluctantly agreed and ordered Haku to read up on tenketsu and way to open them.

He also ordered Haku to look up on that type of jutsu that bitch had used on him. Then he would find its weakness and kill that girl.

Oh yes, he was looking forward to that.

--

Kakashi, Hinata and Sasuke were searching for Naruto in the forest. After half an hour, Kakashi summoned a dog named Pakkun, who had the ability to talk.

"Yo. Sup Kakashi?" The dog greeted, leaving Sasuke and Hinata speechless. A talking dog!

"Hey Pakkun. We need your help finding one of my students."

"I see. What's he smell like?"

"Hmm...," Kakashi started to think. What did Naruto smell like? "He smells like a fox, I'd say."

Pakkun nodded, understanding the underlying implications of his summoner's words. He was trying to find someone whose chakra smelled like fox. He was looking for a Jinchuuriki. Focusing his chakra into his nose, Pakkun took a good sniff of the air. Considering in their location inside the forest, the strong smell of chakra instantly crept into his nose. He could smell Kakashi and his students behind him, but he could also smell the unique chakra's of more people.

"Hmm. He's not too far away from here. But it seems that someone else is approaching him."

"Someone else?"

"Yeah, two different people. A male and a female. If we hurry, we can arrive there at the same time as they do."

"Lead the way!"

Pakkun jumped up to the nearest branch, leading the team to the sleeping Namikaze and Uzumaki.

Baku and his partner arrived at exactly the same moment as Kakashi and his team did. What they found was a rather comical sight. A blonde figure was sleeping on top of Kushina, somewhat hugging her leg. The blonde boy had whisker marks and seemed very comfortable. Kushina herself had a smile on her face with one hand on the boy's head. Her other hand was holding onto the hand of another person, who too had blonde and unruly hair. Her head was leaning against this other person's shoulder while holding one of his hands. The other blonde had one arm around her shoulders and was leaning his head on her head.

All in all, they looked like a very happy family who all fell asleep at the same time.

**--**

**Author's Note:**

O hai thar. Yes, I know this is very late and short. Sue me. "OMG why is this chapter so delayed and short!?!?!?!?!?" you may be asking yourself. Well, do not blame me. Blame **Infinity Ward**, the geniuses behind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. I've been playing that game for the majority of the weekend's night time. It's amazing. So amazing. I can now die and go to heaven after playing the decade's best game. On second thought, dying would be bad because this fic isn't finished yet.

We're approaching the 100k word mark with close to 300 reviews. I am unsatisfied. I want more reviews. Satisfy me. Hey, that sounds kinky.

I need more jutsu. Please send me some. To those of you that already did, like kitsunegamer375 or The Epitome of Eccentricity, then I truly thank you. Oh, and I need help in something else. How do I translate a jutsu from English to Japanese? Obviously, I have to use some sort of translator. But then what? Do I translate the whole name in one go? Or do I split it up and put it back together? Something I need to watch out for? Please help.

LATERZ. Review. NOW.

~Mat.


	15. A week full of Action!

Sealed Within – Chapter 14: A Week full of events!

**A/N: **Hi. It's delayed. You're upset. Do I give a shit? Yes, I do. Therefore I decided to write after a long break. Guess what. I'm in the country where I originally started writing this story. And I felt inspired by several other stories. Please bear with my spelling on this one. I am used to writing in American English, but I often mix it with British/Australian English, as I am used to using both... And the spell check function in both Office and OpenOffice is being retarded as of lately. I feel the need to get MS Office 2010.

Kakashi stood in front of his Genin team in what one could consider an almost lazy pose. His arms were at his side, looking casual. Yet, everyone who knew Hatake Kakashi knew that he could decapitate you with either of those hands before you even know it.

Even though he looked relaxed, he was ready to move instantly. And because he stood in front of his team, he even seemed protective.

On the other side of the clearing stood two people, a man and a woman.

Between them were three sleeping figures leaning against a tree. They looked happy.

Kakashi examined the people on the other side carefully. He couldn't help but think that he knew them from somewhere.

Baku and his female companion knew very well who those people were. The silver hair and headband was just screaming 'HATAKE KAKASHI' at them. The eyes of the girl made it quite obvious that she belonged to the Hyuuga clan. The boy standing next to her could've also carried a sign around saying 'I'm an Uchiha', as it wouldn't have made a difference. His rather cold look, the almost semi frown, the dark eyes gave him away.

Baku turned his head look at the female. She gave him a tiny smirk and an almost unnoticeable nod. They would say 'Hi' to Kakashi... in their own way.

All Sasuke and Hinata saw was a couple of blurs and all they heard was the sound of metal clashing with metal. This kept going for a couple of moments, until they come to a stop.

Kakashi was blocking two kunai with his own. The two attackers stood to his left and to his right, both smiling as if someone had just told a particularly funny joke. All three of them were slightly panting, which wasn't surprising when you consider the speed they had moved at just now.

"As quick as ever, Kakashi." The man said, taking a step backwards, putting his kunai away. The woman just nodded and did the same as her partner, confusing both Kakashi and his students.

"Uhm... Do I know you?" Kakashi asked, not lowering his weapon.

The conversation would've kept going, but it was interrupted by something that caught everyone off guard.

It was the sound of someone weeping, crying.

They all turned to see Naruto, Minato and Kushina awake. Tears were running down both Kushina and Minato's faces, as they pulled Naruto between them to embrace their son in an emotional hug. Naruto looked both happy and sad at the same time.

Happy because his life had changed into such a short time form being horrible into being a lot better.

Sad because he knew that his parents just saw all his memories and were crying about it.

Minato and Kushina were shocked beyond belief at what they saw inside Naruto's head. How it happened, they didn't know. But the memories of their child... Were horrible. They could count the truly happy moments he had by the ten fingers on their hands.

They swore that they would make up for the pain Naruto had to endure.

It took a few minutes for the trio to calm down. Only then they realized that they weren't alone in the clearing. Their heads rose to see who was interrupting their privacy. The eyes of the three other adults went as large as dinner plates after they saw who the other blond man was. A blond man they thought had died a long time ago, saving the village he had loved so dearly.

"Minato!?" The three spoke in union. Minato's eyebrows rose, confused.

The three fainted, falling to the ground with a loud **thud.**

Minato then realized that all of them thought he was dead. He grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head.

"Umm... Oops?" He offered, earning sweat drops all around.

–

They dragged Kakashi, Baku and the female back to Tazuna's place with the help of Sasuke and Hinata, who were confused as well. _'Who's the red head? She seems to know the baka.'_ Were Sasuke's thoughts, with similar things running through Hinata's head.

Tazuna was surprised when his hired protection came back with three new people. Naruto assured that they were friends of his and that they would need just a couple of minutes to regain consciousness. Eventually, the three woke up, only to be greeted by Minato's face. Guess what. They fainted again. At the second attempt, they were greeted by Naruto and Kushina. The three didn't faint, so Naruto and Kushina gave them a little explanation about their relationship. Kakashi's jaw dropped, as he thought that Kushina was dead by now. The other two were just as surprised, as Kushina they thought that Naruto did not survive the sealing.

But that wasn't all. They brought Minato into the room and left him alone with Kakashi, Baku and the female. Seeing no other way, Minato decided to explain what really happened during the sealing, and how he ended up being more alive than dead.

It took him about an hour to fully tell them about the events that had happened. The fact that the adults were shocked and surprised at the same time was only natural, as this information was extremely hard to digest for them. After they finished, Minato looked the woman directly into the eyes and spoke.

"Drop the henge."

Without a word, the female complied. Her appearance completely changed. Minato was now looking at a beautiful woman with dark brown hair that reached just past her shoulders. Her hair framed her face nicely and brought out her bright brown eyes more. Small purple markings marked her cheekbones, adding definition to her features. A small smile tugged on her lips. Her sensei had seen through her extremely complex henge without any problems what-so-ever.

Her Sensei?

"It's good to see you, Rin." Minato spoke once more, a big smile on his face.

When Kakashi saw her face, his visible eye rolled to the back of his head as the seasoned veteran passed out once more. Third time's the lucky charm, right?

They left Kakashi in one of the spare rooms and went to the living room to join Naruto, Kushina, Sasuke, Hinata, Tazuna and Tsunami.

–

It didn't take too long for the group to establish that Kushina, Rin and Baku would come back to Konoha after the bridge was constructed. It was late already, so the group decided that they would talk about Kushina and her companions tomorrow. After everyone said their good nights, they went to bed.

For the first time in his life, Naruto felt safe sleeping. He slept on the couch in the warmth of his mother's embrace. It felt... amazing.

Rin sat on the roof of the house. She was looking out, admiring the way the moon reflected in the sea. Her eyes wandered to the sky, looking at the many stars. It was one of the few nights where the stars were visible in Wave Country. She also sat there because she knew that Kakashi would come up here. They hadn't seen each other in over a decade. Mostly, because Kakashi didn't know that she was here, he probably thought she had died or ran away after their sensei's and Obito's death.

She heard the silent steps of someone walking up the wall of the house. She saw Kakashi's masked head pop up from the edge of the roof. The head disappeared again and Kakashi walked onto the roof. His expression was rather hard to read, as most of his face was covered and the only visible thing... was his eye. He sat down next to her and also looked into the sky. The two just sat there, neither knowing how to start the conversation. It felt somewhat awkward and Rin's thoughts wandered back to the day she was urged by her sensei to accompany Baku and Kushina into the Land of Waves so that Kushina could recover.

It was so rushed. Minato wanted to get them out of Konoha as quickly as possible. Rin didn't even have time to say any goodbyes. Well, it's not like she had anyone aside from her sensei and Kakashi to say goodbye to.

"So this is where you went, Rin..." Kakashi broke the ice, still not looking at her.

"Yeah... It's a long story."

"We've got time."

Rin sighed. This was going to be a long night.

–

When Naruto woke up, he thought it was all a dream. He thought he had only dreamed of his mother, and felt the tears forming already. Before he could cry, he could hear the sound of someone snoring. He turned around only to see his mother's face buried into a pillow, sleeping like there was no tomorrow.

He instantly calmed down and shook his head. Naruto just sat there and looked at the sleeping form of his mother.

**His mother!**

He now had a mother! And a father! Family. A word that's foreign to the blond enigma. That was about to change.

Naruto got up and stretched. With a poof, Minato appeared next to him, looking very relieved and happy. Naruto shot him a grin and they stretched together. Kushina eventually woke up to her two blonds doing some light warm ups. She too thought that it all had been a dream at first, but that thought was quickly ended by Naruto jumping and hugging her.

After an hour, the whole group was assembled in the living room sitting around the big table. It was a bit of a squeeze but it worked out. Tsunami, with the help of Hinata, dished out an amazing breakfast, which was surprising due to the shortage of supplies. This of course was rewarded with praises from everyone (except for Sasuke who just nodded and kept eating).

Kakashi and the woman known as Rin looked rather tired. Minato was pretty sure he knew why that was, but didn't say anything. Especially since it was his fault that the two got separated in the first place. He didn't regret his decision to send Rin. Back then she was already a Chunin and a very skilled one at that. She was also one of the best medic nins back then, despite her tender age.

Due to the new additions to the group, everyone agreed that Minato should be the one leading them. After breakfast, Minato stood up and clapped, gaining everyone's attention.

"Okay. Because we have a big group, we will have to slightly alter our plans for today. Kakashi will be taking Hinata and Sasuke to do some special training. Kushina will be coming with you as she wants to see what you guys can do. Naruto and I will be going to the bridge to help Tazuna out. Baku and Rin have volunteered to stay here and help Tsunami and Inari with their errands and of course their safety. Any objections?" No one seemed to have any objections, much to Minato's pleasure. "Good. And keep your guard up, no matter what you do or where you are. Zabuza and his companion are still around, despite Zabuza being unable to mold chakra thanks to Hinata. Also watch out for any of Gato's thugs. Don't do anything rash if you see any of them."

Everyone got up and prepared to leave the house. Kakashi, Kushina, Hinata and Sasuke were the first ones to leave, heading into the forests so that Kakashi could show them their training assignment. Sasuke shot Naruto a 'haha I get to train and you don't' look. Naruto retaliated by sticking his tongue out.

Minato and Naruto left just after them, following Tazuna to the bridge. The old man was bristling with energy, feeling very confident in his ability to finally finish the bride and return the small country to its former glory. His attitude was contagious, as everyone felt eager to do whatever they had to do.

–

With Naruto.

Over one hundred clones were carrying building materials from one end of the bridge to another. They helped out the workers wherever they could, but they also used every opportunity to joke around with the slightly elderly laborers, who respected the blond for his assistance, but also liked his sense of humor.

The original Naruto sat next to his dad on a fairly large crate, as Minato taught him the basics of diversion.

"See Naruto? If you use your Kage Bushin in conjunction with smoke bombs," Minato drew symbols and arrows in the dust with a stick, "then you can quickly pretend to hide in the smoke. Your opponent will think that you are fighting along side your clones, but you can sneak out and plan your next step."

Naruto nodded.

"Also, your Kage Bushin can be very helpful for your team. Let's say that your mission was to infiltrate an enemy location and gather important intel."

Naruto nodded again, absorbing the information.

"Okay, let's say that you and your team got the information and you started to make your way out of the village. You're halfway out, but your team gets discovered by an enemy patrol, which rings the alarm immediately. What do you do?"

Naruto thought for a moment. "Hmm. I'd summon lots of clones and kick their asses!"

Minato shook his head. "You could do that, but it is not a smart thing to do. If the Hokage sends you on mission like this, you will most likely be gathering important and vital information for the village. If you decide to stay and fight, there will always be the chance that you get captured or worse. You have to always keep your mind on the objective and you have to think about the consequences that could result from you failing. Try again."

"Okay... I'd summon many clones, about two hundred. I'd make them form groups and henge so that they look like me and my team! Then I'd let them scramble, every group running somewhere else. This would give us the opportunity to escape and use the enemy's confusion as our advantage! And once we've escaped, I'd let my clones explode!" Naruto exclaimed, already seeing himself and his team doing such important missions for the Hokage.

Minato nodded in approval. "That's a lot better and a good use of your Bushin as a distraction. But only make them explode if it does not compromise your mission, understood?"

"Yes!"

Minato and Naruto spent a few hours discussing various scenarios. When lunchtime approached, Naruto decided to ask a question that had been bothering him since breakfast.

"Oi, dad?"

"Mh?"

"Well, I was wondering... Did you actually tell mom that you're... you know, sealed inside me with the demon?"

Minato thought about it. Did he tell Kushina?

…

…

…

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUC-"

–

With Kakashi and Kushina.

Sasuke was doing his best to learn the tree climbing exercise. Hinata already knew how to do it, much to Kakashi's surprise. When he asked how she learned to use it, Hinata blushed slightly and said that Naruto had taught her. This naturally didn't sit too well with the Uchiha.

_'DAMN IT! I'm being left behind. I need to train more, I need to become stronger! Naruto and Hinata can do this, so I can too! Focus, focus! What did Hinata say? Find he right amount of chakra first. Not too much. Okay, here we go!' _With new found vigor, the boy charged at the tree. He ran up the tree, doing his best to maintain control. As he was getting close to the half way mark of the tree, Sasuke could his control falter. _'Focus! Control it! Grr!'_

With a determined look, Sasuke kept running, the sweat running down his face. He would not give up. This was a basic exercise that every shinobi had to master and he wouldn't be the first one to fail. The raved haired boy didn't know how far he managed to run up the tree before he lost control but he left a mark in the tree's bark. Once he landed, he collapsed on the ground, panting heavily.

He had been doing this exercise ever since they arrived at the clearing, and it was already lunch time. He looked up to see how far he had managed to run up the tree. The mark left by his kunai was at the three quarters mark, which was his highest so far. The boy smiled slightly. It was almost time for lunch, and he had time for one more go before they would eat.

Hinata and Kushina sat on a pair of logs, watching the Uchiha survivor doing his best. Hinata's face was covered in light layer of sweat as she sparred with Kushina. Only then she realized just how strong this woman was. Kushina complimented her on her taijutsu style, saying that her impulsive creations were very surprising and so much more fun to go up against. She asked Hinata how she learned or how she was inspired to fight like that, and Hinata answered that both Minato and Naruto taught her to change her traditional style into something modern.

"Minato and Naruto taught you?"

"Y-yes, they told me that it would be much more effective to i-implement new elements into my f-fighting style." Hinata couldn't help but to stutter a bit in the woman's presence. Kushina was radiating with excitement but also power. She seemed like a hyper active version of Minato, who had a similar aura or presence around him, but unlike his wife, he was more collected, cool and calm.

"They've taught you? For how long?" Kushina asked. This Hyuuga was very intriguing in her mind, as she was the complete opposite of the stereotypical Hyuugas she had met during her stay in Konohagakure.

"Umm... ever since I moved in with Naruto-kun..." She replied, before blushing bright red. What would Kushina think when she found out that she was living together with Naruto?

"What? You're living with Naruto?"

"Y-yes..." Hinata replied shyly.

"Are you two, like, intimate?" Kushina asked with a raised eyebrow. Her son was a pre-teen and already had a girl living with him. That took Kushina by surprise, but it wasn't too surprising, especially since Naruto took after his father. When Minato was Naruto's age, girls were begging to live in the same house as he did.

Hinata, of course, blushed to new extents, and quickly shook her head.

This confused Kushina somewhat. Her son was living with a girl that wasn't his girlfriend? What was going on?

"You aren't? Hmm... I think it's best if you told me everything, from the start. Tell me how you met Naruto and how you ended up living with him, if you don't mind. I've missed out on 12 years of my son's life, and now would be a good start to catch up on some of the events that have been happening recently, don't you agree?" Kushina said with a happy smile. If she had to judge by the blushing that Hinata did every time she mentioned her son, then she would have to conclude that Hinata thinks of him as more than just a friend or fellow teammate.

Hinata mentally collected all her confidence and agreed by nodding. This was Naruto's mother, and she would be a good ally if Hinata wanted to get Naruto to see her the way she saw him. Mothers always had an influence on their children, and Kushina could play a big factor later on.

So, Hinata took a deep breath and started talking about the day she met Naruto at the academy and how she was intrigued by him and how she secretly started to follow him.

–

Back with Minato.

Minato had managed to calm down and form a plan on how to break the news to Kushina that he was actually just a shadow clone controlled by his soul and mind inside Naruto. They had a few small sandwiches for lunch, much to Naruto's satisfaction. Tsunami's cooking skills were on levels Naruto had not really experienced yet. The food he ate with Hinata was great, but they weren't as good as Tsunami yet. Of course, the mother of Inari had years of experience in art of cooking, and the fact that she only basic ingredients to work with was another statement of how skilled she was.

It was during the process of Minato making Naruto do push ups on the water's surface that something incredible happened. It was something that neither Naruto nor Minato thought possible, and it would turn out to be an event that would drastically change the life of Naruto.

A small puff of smoke appeared, right next to Naruto on the water.

The smoke cleared, only to reveal a rather small creature. But it wasn't just any creature, it was a small, blood red animal.

A small fox, to be exact.

The fox had big red eyes and small pointy ears on the top of its head. But the most distinguishing feature were the nine miniature tails that were swinging proudly in the air behind the fox. The fox stood on four furry paws, which were black instead of red.

All in all, the fox looked very cute and was about double the size of Kiba's dog Akamaru.

The animal looked around and shifted its head slightly.

"Yo." The fox spoke, delivering the final blow to Naruto's composure. The blond's eyes widened and he lost control over the chakra that was flowing through his hands into the water. His body broke into the water's surface, soaking the shinobi in ice cold water, despite the rather warm climate.

After Naruto managed to get out of the water and onto the bridge, he took off his orange jacket, so it could dry. He looked around and saw that no workers were near him or Minato, so he glared at the mini fox and spoke.

"Kyuubi!? What the hell!?" Our favorite hero exclaimed.

(Note: Kyuubi's voice will not be **bold** when he's not inside Naruto as his voice doesn't sound too demonic.)

"Hell? No, I'm not that bad." The demon replied, trying to sound insulted.

"How did you manage to get out?" Minato asked, slightly fearing that his seal was failing. The Kyuubi didn't seem to be bad, but who knew. It could be charade to make the two trust the demon.

"It's quite simple, actually. I molded chakra and created a clone, just like you do. The reason why I'm so small is because your seal restricts my chakra output to a minimum when Naruto isn't actively tapping into it. No, your seal isn't failing, Yondaime-baka. I've always had the ability to mold this amount of chakra, but I never thought of making a solid clone until a minute ago."

That sounded reasonable and logic and Minato accepted that explanation. The seal was created to do several things. The main purpose was to imprison the demon, obviously. The other purposes were mainly to Naruto's benefit. First, the seal would slowly absorb the Kyuubi's Yang chakra into Naruto's reserves, increasing the amount of Chakra that Naruto had over time. Secondly, the seal was also designed to allow Naruto to access the chakra, if he needed to. Thirdly, the seal restricted Kyuubi's ability to mold chakra to a minimum, as long as Naruto did not consciously force the seal to allow Kyuubi more access. But that meant that Kyuubi would be able to create clones, such as this, as long as Naruto didn't completely block the chakra output.

"Yeah, but I can't just walk around with a pet fox! Especially since you have nine tails!" Naruto said, fearing the consequences of a miniature Kyuubi walking next to him.

"Well, I would've changed my appearance but I don't have enough chakra available to do so. Besides, we're in Wave Country, no one here knows what I look like beside your friends. And you know you could just cast a genjutsu over me to hide me." Kyuubi answered, scratching one ear with a tail.

"That's what we'll do right now." Minato added, starting to form a set of seals. The genjutsu wasn't too complex or demanding, but rather handy. As long as the illusion was active, common, non ninjas, would only notice the Kyuubi if they directly stared at him for a prolonged time or if someone consciously pointed it out. The jutsu would not be effective to people stronger than your average Chunin, as those people mostly had the ability to spot and see through such a simple genjutsu. It would probably work on most Genin, assuming that they weren't the most attentive ones.

While Minato did the seals, Naruto remembered something that had been on his mind and was now brought back to his attention due to Kyuubi just appearing.

"That reminds me, how did you make a clone without me making any hand seals?"

"It is possible to perform jutsu without the aid of hand seals, but it takes more concentration and most of the time, it also consumes more chakra. That's also how your poor excuse of a father managed to intervene in the fight between you and your mother." The demon replied, going into his semi-lecture mode.

Naruto tilted his head to his side in understanding. This also opened new ideas. Maybe he could learn how to use jutsu without any hand seals. If what Kyuubi said was true, then he could use his massive amount of energy to attack and defend a lot faster without having to use seals.

After Minato finished the seals, he walked over to the Kyuubi and touched its back with one of his chakra infused hands. A small seal glowed for a few seconds on Kyuubi's back before disappearing in its fur.

"There we go. All set and ready to go. Oh and remember Naruto: Don't talk to the fox out loud when we're around normal people, as they will most likely think that you're mentally challenged and are talking to yourself or some form of imaginary friend."

Naruto agreed by nodding and jokingly spoke, "It's not like it matters anyway, people at home already think that I'm mentally challenged..."

But the three knew that those words were the truth and a slightly depressed look crossed Naruto's face for a second before he laughed it off and demanded to be trained some more.

–

Rin and Baku sat at the table with Tsunami and played a good old fashioned card game. What astonished the two was the fact that Tsunami was completely wiping the floor with the two, stacking up a good amount of coins in front of her.

"For Kami's sake, how does she do it, Rin-chan!? Whenever I think I got a good hand, she just pulls out a better hand! And the worst is that we know she isn't cheating!" Baku almost yelled, feeling frustrated at the amount of coins he was losing. He didn't really care, and neither did Rin, because money had pretty much lost its worth to the two over the past years. They didn't need any money on the island they lived on with Kushina, as they would go and hunt or gather in order to survive.

"Shut up and play! She's just better than you, and it doesn't take much luck or skill to do so!" Rin replied, trying to keep track of which cards have already been removed from the deck and which were still in it.

The trio kept playing for most of the afternoon, ending the game with Tsunami collecting a good deal of money from the two. Afterwards, they sat down with some water, and Baku asked Tsunami why her son seemed to be so depressed and angry at the same time. Tsunami just sighed and told them the story she also told Naruto and his companions. It hurt her to tell the story of her lover again, but at the same time it made her feel better as she finally got to talk to someone about the losses they had to suffer.

–

Kushina and Hinata were still sitting on the tree stumps, as they talked throughout all of lunch. Sasuke was attempting to climb the tree again and Kakashi was watching him progress while reading his book. He felt like giggling, but had to dodge a windmill shuriken that came at him from Kushina's general direction. Feeling unsafe and fearing for his book's health, Kakashi saw himself forced to retreat into the safety of a tree top, continuing his reading session in the trees while keeping an eye out for Sasuke.

Kushina felt several emotions after Hinata told her _everything. _She felt shocked and angered at the actions of Hinata's family. She felt surprised when Hinata told her that Naruto had taken her into his home and offered her the best possible revenge against her clan by letting her train with him. She giggled when Hinata also told her about the times at the academy when Naruto would prank Iruka, seeing that a good deal of her active personality had rubbed off on Naruto. She also felt like cursing when Hinata told her about the assassination attempts of both the villagers and ninja alike. And she felt very happy when Hinata admitted that she had very deep and romantic feelings for her son.

Kushina looked into the afternoon sky and sighed. The woman from the Land of the Whirlpools then looked into Hinata's lavender eyes, and spoke.

"When I get back to Konoha, heads will roll." She spoke with such firmness and determination that inspired Hinata, but also instantly reminded her of Naruto and Minato.

"And also, I'd like to say..." Kushina got up from her seat and hugged Hinata happily. "Thank you. Thank you for watching over my son and helping him as best as you could."

Hinata somewhat hugged her back. "I-It's my pleasure, Uzumaki-sama..."

"Don't call me that! It makes me feel old! You will call me Kushina, or I WILL embarrass you in front of my son to degrees you couldn't even imagine!" Kushina threatened playfully, but still got the point across.

Being the shy being she was, Hinata quickly blushed and agreed, as she knew that Kushina could do that whenever she pleased and she'd rather not embarrass herself while her crush was around.

Hinata had also told her about all the things she and Naruto did together, and truthfully answered when Kushina had asked her if her son behaved well around her and if he treated her with respect. The Hyuuga Heiress quickly assured Kushina that Naruto had never ever mistreated her. This led to Hinata retelling the story of Naruto's fight against Kiba, exactly detailing how Naruto had fought for her honor and pride.

After that was over, the two looked over to see how Sasuke was doing. He was steadily improving, almost reaching the top of the tree. Both the females enjoyed the relaxed silence between them as they listened to the sounds of Sasuke panting and him running up the tree. The sun was slowly dipping towards the horizon, and Kushina decided to tell Hinata something that she had noticed earlier.

"You know, Hinata... When I met Naruto yesterday, I got to meet the demon inside him... But Minato and I, we also got the chance to see all of Naruto's childhood memories. You see... in his life, he's never had too many moments where he was truly happy. After we saw his dark childhood, we flashed through important events and scenes of his life in the academy and outside. Most of those moments where he was truly happy... Were moments that involved YOU in one way or another."

The shy girl was greatly surprised at his and felt like blushing and fainting at the same time. She had made Naruto-kun happy!

"T-Thank you, Kushina-sama... T-That means a lot to me." Hinata thanked her, bowing her head slightly.

"You're most welcome, Hinata... DON'T YOU CALL ME SAMA!"

Kakashi looked down from his tree to see Hinata being chased by Kushina who seemed very eager to try her Katana on the small girl.

"God... Can this day get any weirder? Or better? Hehehe..." Kakashi asked no one in particular as he flipped the page to read what his bible had to offer him.

–

The next two days passed uneventfully, except that Naruto and his mother spent as much time together as they could, talking to each other and learning about another in order to make up for twelve years of lost time.

Sasuke managed to reach the top of tree and was rewarded with Kakashi showing him how to walk on water. This made Sasuke groan, but he accepted it as he knew that this was a very good way to increase control and chakra capacity at the same time.

The most eventful thing that happened in the two days was when Naruto and Minato came home as the last group to arrive. Kyuubi, despite Naruto's protest, had seen himself as unfit to walk all the way from the bridge to the house and thus sat on Naruto's head. Naruto tried to pry him off or at least put him on his shoulder, but Kyuubi refused, saying that Naruto's hair was the perfect cushion.

When they walked into the house with Tazuna trailing behind, everyone already sat around the table whilst Tsunami was cooking dinner. All of them looked at the new arrivals and instantly noticed the adorable fox on Naruto's head.

Kushina was the first to react as she jumped up and grabbed the fox, cuddling it like mad. "KAWAIII!" was what she screamed, making most guys sweat drop. What then shocked everyone was that the fox managed to let a few words out before Kushina squeezed the last oxygen from its lungs.

"Let... me... go... crazy woman..." Was what Kyuubi managed to say.

It is unnecessary to say that all of attending people were shocked as the fox introduced itself as the Kyuubi no Yoko.

–

On the third day, Tazuna announced that the bridge would be finished within the next three days with Naruto's help. This earned a round of applause. But the third day also marked the day that Zabuza would be ready to fight again according to Hinata's predictions and calculations.

Minato told Rin, Baku and Kushina to go back to their small island and pack up all their belongings, as they would be travelling back to Konoha once the bridge was done. They reluctantly agreed, but didn't really want to leave as the knew that Zabuza could strike at any given time. Minato said that he doubted that Zabuza could stand up against himself or Kakashi and promised that he would stay around Naruto at all times.

Kushina still didn't know that Minato was sealed inside his son, so she agreed and promised to be back as soon as ninja-ly possible. It was also on this day that Naruto overslept from training so long and hard the previous evening. Kakashi said that Naruto should stay at home and get the sleep he needed as he and the rest of his team made their way to the bridge. They wouldn't get much work done without the clones, but they could already prepare everything so that the clones would be able to work at maximum efficiency when Naruto awoke.

Naruto woke up ten minutes after his team left. He entered the living room, only to find Inari sitting there, glaring at him. Naruto decided to ignore the boy's antics and cheerfully greeted Tsunami, wishing her a good morning. Minato was inside Naruto, not really feeling the need to take solid form.

While Naruto was eating, Inari left the room and Tsunami sat on the chair across from him and wondered how he could eat so fast. She also decided to ask him a question that had been bothering her...

"Naruto-san, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course, Tsunami-san! What is it?"

"Well... I was wondering... When you made that promise about killing Gato... Did you really mean it? And do you think you can do it? You're a young man Naruto, and killing isn't something that should be taken lightly. I've seen many people get killed by Gato, and I hate it. My lover, Kaiza... He was always against violence..." She explained, hoping that he would deny it. She knew that killing was part of shinobi life, but Naruto and his friends were still... so young and innocent.

"Yes Tsunami-san, I really did mean it. I know that I am young but killing is an everyday part in the life of a Ninja, and it will be a constant factor in my life, whether I like it or not. I am also not a fan of violence, but this is where I feel the need to use it. It's not only because of the people Gato killed, but it's also because of the ideals that good people like Kaiza or even my father have. They believe in the good of people and did their best to fight for those ideals and beliefs. And Gato just barged in and destroyed them! I cannot accept that Tsunami-san! Gato and people like him will need to learn a lesson, and I will teach it to them, using their own methods! Gato ruined this country and it will take time to rebuild. It's my duty to avenge the men and women Gato killed, as they were innocent! In my life, I've suffered a lot already, even if I don't look like it. I know how the people feel that lost their loved ones to this man, and I know how the sorrow can eat you up! These people will never be able to move on and sleep peacefully while Gato is still walking this land. And even with the bridge completed, there's always the chance that Gato will come back once we leave to destroy it again! To ease the pain of the people...-"

"PAIN!? YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT PAIN! SHUT UP! YOU THINK YOU'VE SUFFERED? YOU DON'T HAVE A CLUE ABOUT SUFFERING! YOU DON'T KNOW HOW WE FEEL! SO STOP TRYING TO BE A HERO, BECAUSE YOU'LL DIE ANYWAY!" An enraged Inari screamed at Naruto from the staircase leading up to the bedrooms. Naruto and Tsunami did not realized that he had been listening to their entire conversation.

That struck a nerve.

Before Tsunami or Inari knew it, Naruto appeared in front of the boy and slammed him into a wall... hard, earning a gasp from the mother and whimper from the son.

"Don't you DARE talk to me about not UNDERSTANDING PAIN! You think you've SUFFERED? Yes, you've lost your father. But would he want you to keep CRYING AND WHINING like you KEEP DOING!? NO! At least you HAD SOMEONE TO LOVE! And you STILL DO! TRY LIVING MY LIFE FOR A CHANGE! For most of my life, I've had NO ONE! ABSOLUTELY NO ONE! Why don't you walk down the street with people looking at you wishing that YOU DIE? How about you live alone, isolated with NO FAMILY OR FRIENDS? And how about you LIVE ALL YOUR GOD DAMN LIFE, BEING HATED AND SHUNNED FOR SOMETHING YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO FUCKING CONTROL OVER! How about you try and FIGHT TO SURVIVE EACH DAY FOR TWELVE YEARS? IF YOU GO THROUGH THAT, THEN YOU KNOW REAL PAIN!" Naruto yelled back at him, slamming him against the wall whenever he made an important point.

Minato wanted to intervene but couldn't bring himself to do it. Naruto needed to let this come out and release all the pent up emotion inside him, and Inari acted as the trigger and victim.

Tsunami and Inari were shocked to the core at the pain that was dominant in Naruto's voice. Naruto's eyes were wet from the memories he went through during his rant, but he wiped them away and controlled himself once more. With a calmer but still angry demeanor, he looked at Inari and Tsunami before stepping out of the house.

"You don't know real pain. Get over Kaiza's death and cherish your memories with him. Take his ideals to your heart and live them the way he'd wanted you to. And be grateful for the time you get to spend with your family, and start by being thankful for the hard work and effort your mother puts into you every damn day."

Naruto left the house and absentmindedly created clones to keep the house safe. He had no doubt that inari had to think and so did Tsunami and they were in no condition to defend themselves. On his way to the bridge, Kyuubi materialized next to him and bit him... in the right ass cheek.

"OWW! What was that for!?"

"That's for being so rough with the boy, idiot!"

"Why the hell do you care? You're a god damn demon, you KILL people just for shits and giggles!"

Naruto could tell that he had struck a nerve with the demon, as Kyuubi seemed rather sad and looked away. Naruto could also tell that he had gone too far. So far, the demon hadn't actually done anything to deliberately hurt him, but rather helped him and looked out for him when he was younger.

He sighed and picked the small fox off the ground and placed it on his head. They walked to the bridge in silence and Minato also appeared next to him. Instead of scolding him like Naruto expected, Minato was very gentle and put a hand on his son's shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah... I feel a lot better. Thanks dad."

"No problem. That's what dads are for, right?"

Before Naruto could reply, the radio around his neck crackled and Kakashi's voice could be heard.

"_Naruto, it's starting."_

Naruto and Minato tensed. They knew what Kakashi meant. Zabuza was back and he was at the bridge. Minato dispelled himself and Naruto (with Kyuubi still on his head) dashed for the bridge construction site.

–

Sasuke was actually looking forward to this. He would get his payback against that masked, fake hunter nin who fought at Zabuza's side.

Once again, the mist started to thicken noticeably. The clones Naruto had sent immediately started to evacuate the workers, except for Tazuna. They knew that Zabuza was after Tazuna, and if they tried to evacuate him, he would most likely die. Therefore they created a circular pattern around Tazuna. Unlike last time, they now had better strategic knowledge due to Minato giving Naruto more lessons, telling him how to use the clones in a better fashion.

Zabuza noted it too, but decided to open the confrontation with a little conversation again.

"Long time no see, Kakashi." Zabuza opened, still well concealed within the mist, Haku not too far away from him.

"Indeed. How are your tenketsu?" Kakashi replied casually, even though his senses were scanning around him, Hinata and Sasuke. He gave Hinata a meaningful look and the Hyuuga understood. This was her opportunity to activate her Byakugan without Zabuza noticing it.

The vines around her eyes became pronounced and her vision changed immediately. She spotted Zabuza standing in the mist, maybe ten meters away from their location. The other enemy was slowly and carefully approaching them from their left side, apparently intending to flank them.

Zabuza growled as he was reminded of the highly annoying time he had to spend in bed so his body could relax and let his tenketsu open naturally.

"They're perfectly fine. Thanks for reminding me that I'll have to chop that Hyuuga girl apart."

"I highly doubt that you'll get the chance to do so, Zabuza."

"Keep doubting, Copy Cat. And look at that Uchiha kid. He's shaking with fear. Isn't that cute? Really pathetic. Are all of Konoha's ninja as weak as this?"

It was true. Sasuke was indeed shaking. He reached for a kunai and decided to answer. "I am shaking with _excitement_. And the last time I checked, you got your ass handed to you by one of our _pathetic_ Genin."

"Let's see if you can back up those words, brat."

With that, the assault started.

Zabuza summoned several Water Clones to aid him in dispelling the Shadow Clones Naruto had created earlier. But the horde of Narutos were prepared as they put up a vicious fight, not hesitating to use suicidal tactics.

Zabuza's clones had a major advantage due to their extended reach, granted to him by his massive sword. The real Zabuza took a massive vertical swing, dispelling four of Naruto's clones in an instant. The self proclaimed "demon" leaped into the air and landed in front of Kakashi, who was expecting him. They engaged in a fierce Taijutsu battle, neither managing to gain the upper hand. Zabuza swung his sword around with ease that was formed by his years of experience, but Kakashi was always on his toes, dodging the slashes and retaliating with his own share of kunai attacks.

Kakashi wanted to see how Zabuza's physical condition was. If he was in top shape, Kakashi would have to end this quickly, as his Genin were engaging another enemy who had quite considerable skills.

For once, Sasuke and Hinata had an advantage. Hinata could see through the mist, and Haku was more of a close to medium range fighter. If Haku wanted to harm them, he/she had to get close to them, which Hinata would see instantly.

The mist itself started to lose some of its consistency, similar to last time. Haku came to a stop a few meters away from Sasuke and Hinata and focused chakra into his/her feet.

_'The Hyuuga girl is the bigger problem here. Her eyes are excellent and can see through this mist easily. I'll have to knock her out, fast.'_ Haku thought, preparing to reveal the true strength inside him.

Hinata could see the movement, but her body was too slow to react this time. Haku appeared right beside her.... And slammed two senbon needles into her neck.

Much to Haku's surprise, Hinata turned around and smiled. The smile grew wider... and a small explosion of water sent Haku flying backwards.

_'Mizu Bushin!?'_

Haku had to rely on the 6th sense most ninja developed over time, and leaped to the side just in time to dodge the whip of fire that would've left nasty burns on the skin.

Sasuke quickly cancelled the jutsu and worked on another set of seals. Hinata's ability to spot Haku and create Water Clones was turning out to be a most powerful asset, as Haku was now the one defending against several clones.

Hinata's confidence grew by the second, as Haku did not expect this extraordinarily shy girl to have the ability to use the Mizu Bushins. The clones were even more effective due to Hinata's ability in the Jyuuken Taijutsu style.

Haku barely managed to avoid one of her lethal blows and put some distance between them. At least that was the plan, but Sasuke appeared once again and shot a medium sized fireball at the masked person. Haku thought quickly and barely managed to create a shield of ice between the fireball and himself/herself.

This fight was just starting.

Naruto on the other hand just arrived at the bridge. The mist wasn't too dense now, so he could observe the events from afar at first, just like his father had taught him to do. He saw that Hinata and Sasuke gave the hunter nin quite the trouble, and felt rather proud when he saw that Hinata's Mizu Bushin were able to make a small water explosion upon being destroyed, which was one of the concepts he inspired her with.

The inspiration came when Hinata saw Naruto use the **Bunshin Daibakuha **for the first asked Naruto about it, and Naruto agreed in helping her develop a version that could be usable with her Mizu Bushin. They ended up creating a concept that consisted of the clone having an in-built "chakra trap", which would dispel the remaining water in an explosive fashion, creating a small, watery, explosion which was capable of sending someone flying. The true genius part about it was that it didn't use up more chakra. The only thing that really changed was how Hinata had to form and structure the chakra while creating a clone, having to focus more of the used chakra into the midsection of the clone so that the chakra could be released in that fashion.

Kakashi was having more trouble than his students. He decided not to reveal his trump card, the Sharingan, yet, but that could prove to be quite fatal.

Zabuza had two clones sneak up on him. While Kakashi was busy fighting the original and a clone, the two attacked from behind, one of them managing to land a kick on Kakashi's ribs, sending the silver haired man to the ground. Before Kakashi got up, Zabuza was standing over him, rapidly going through the seals for a special jutsu.

That's where Naruto and his furry pet decided to step in, realizing that Kakashi was in more danger than his fellow students.

Naruto dashed towards Zabuza, hoping to interrupt the enemy from completing his jutsu. He wasn't too far away, but it was once again the time for an event that would baffle him and some other people for another period of time.

Seeing that Naruto wouldn't make it in time to prevent Zabuza from finishing his technique, Kyuubi decided to reveal his little ace...

The fox jumped, using Naruto's head as a measure to gain more distance.

While the fox propelled itself through the air towards Zabuza at rather surprising speeds, Kyuubi inhaled a good amount of air...

The red fox was about ten meters away from Zabuza, who was finishing the last two seals.

Kyuubi exhaled.

A huge stream of the purest, deep red fire erupted from the small fox's mouth, intending to reduce Zabuza to nothing but ash.

Zabuza's senses were rioting in his mind as the missing nin was forced to swing his zanbato around and use it as a shield. The flames were raging hot and burned him several places, but Zabuza's sword managed to absorb most of the damage. Zabuza's sword was made from the strongest metals known to man, and it was forged by the most excellent sword smiths available. The sword had endured many attacks, from both ninjutsu and taijutsu side, but this was something new.

A good part of the sword's midsection was melted, the hard steel deformed in some places. This naturally enraged the missing nin.

Kakashi was surprised as well. He looked at his unlikely savior and wondered what the world was coming to, and whether he'd been drugged. The demon had saved him, despite the fact that it was a freakin' DEMON!

Kakashi decided that he could thank the fox later and quickly got up. Naruto came to halt right next to him, with eyes wide as saucers as the demon jumped back onto his head once more.

Kakashi opened a small scroll holder on his Jonin vest. The Jonin quickly opened the scroll and smeared some blood from a cut he had on his leg onto the paper, infusing chakra into the blood while doing so.

The scroll turned out to be a sealing scroll that was commonly used among shinobi of the leaf to store weapons or other gear. Unlike most other scrolls, this one had something special sealed inside, something that Kakashi used rather rarely, but this was not the time to dwell on things like that.

In his hand was a sheathed blade. It wasn't too long, maybe as long as the distance between Kakashi's elbow and his palm. The sheath was ebony black, and looked very smooth. The handle of the weapon was taped, looking ready to be used. Kakashi took the grip with a determined nod, and pulled the tanto free from its sheath in a swift motion.

In his hands, he held the White Chakra Saber that had belonged to his father before it had been passed down to him. Kakashi relished the familiar weight in his hands, and felt the subtle energy of the weapon in his gloved hands. The weapon was made from a very rare material, which was extremely hard to find these days...

Kakashi's chakra engulfed the ivory white blade, extending it quite a bit.

Naruto looked in awe, having never seen such a weapon before.

Zabuza had a neutral expression, but he knew what type of weapon Kakashi was holding in his hands.

"Naruto, go help Sasuke and Hinata. Now that I'm serious, I'm sure that I can handle this demon wannabe." Kakashi ordered, assuming a fighting stance. Zabuza replied by readying his damaged weapon, intending to still use it despite the deformations.

The blond Genin saw that his sensei was serious and made a dash for Sasuke and Hinata.

--

Sasuke was anything but amused. He had several puncture wounds in his limbs and a good amount of cuts and scratches to go with them. Hinata herself didn't look a lot better, but she had the advantage of the Byakugan.

_'Damn it! If I just had my Sharingan activated, then this punk would be dead by now!'_

The reason how they got into such a bad shape in a matter of moments were Haku's Ice Mirrors. They knew that the ability to create ice was a Kekkei Genkai, but this seemed to be Haku's ultimate technique as it allowed the formed Mist Nin to travel at very high speed, attacking them from all sides without them knowing exactly where he was hiding. Hinata couldn't tell in which mirror the masked foe really was in due to the mirrors covering his chakra.

Seeing his friends in trouble, Naruto immediately dashed into the array of mirrors, blocking a bunch of ice needles which would've added to Sasuke's growing amount of wounds. Sasuke turned to see the blond haired enigma and gawked.

"What the hell are you doing!?"

Naruto turned to him surprised. "What? That's what I get for saving your ass?"

"You idiot! You could've just stayed outside to analyze how the hell this punk uses these mirrors, and THEN come in here to help us!"

"Yeah but by the time I do that, both of you would've been DEAD!"

"We can take care of ourselves!"

Their argument was interrupted by two massive shuriken made from ice. One headed for Naruto, the other one for Sasuke, but both managed to avoid being sliced in half by the deadly weapons. The members of Team 7 ended up standing back to back in the middle of the dome.

This kept going for several minutes. Haku would attack, Team 7 would dodge and retaliate, but nothing worked. The team also tried to break the mirrors, but it was no use. Hinata said that they were made from a highly complex structure that would provide maximum stability and resistance.

But Team 7 also had a few close hits on Haku. Sasuke kept focusing as good as he could, using Hinata as an indicator to predict where Haku would try to hit next. One of the fireballs managed to graze Haku's skirt, much to Sasuke's satisfaction, but it was not even close enough to do any damage.

Suddenly, everything happened in slow motion for Sasuke. The raven haired boy saw how Haku appeared between him and Naruto, wielding a spear made from pure ice. The shock on Naruto's face was blatant, and Sasuke saw the spear make its way to Naruto's side in an agonizingly slow manner. Sasuke leaped, aiming for Haku's back, trying to throw the enemy off target.

He would make sure that no one hurt his friends. That was his job.

The Uchiha succeeded in saving Naruto from the blow. Hinata gasped loudly, also rushing towards Naruto. Haku lost her balance, but merged with one of the ice mirrors before being subjected to the fury of a certain Hyuuga female.

Naruto, who had stumbled and had fallen to the ground looked up to see a certain Sasuke Uchiha stand there, panting. Something looked different, though...

"Oi teme! Since when do you wear contact lenses!?" He asked, despite the situation they were in.

Sasuke shot Naruto a confused and annoyed look. They didn't have time to chat!

"I'm not wearing any lenses, you baka! Now get up!"

Naruto complied, readying himself for the next wave. Hinata also took position, but she was still worried about her Naruto-kun getting hurt.

"Well then how the hell do you explain your eye color?" Naruto asked, looking for Haku's next attack.

Sasuke grew irritated. What was the dobe talking about? "Eye color?"

"They're blood red, for Kami's sake!" Naruto exclaimed.

Sasuke froze, as he saw his reflection in the water puddle at his feet. Indeed, his eyes were red, and each eye held a ring with two black tomoes each.

_'Sharingan... Yes! Finally!'_

Sasuke smirked. Now he was gonna wipe the floor with this guy!

But Naruto had a different plan. These mirrors were definitely a problem that needed to be solved.

"I got a plan! Be careful guys!"

Naruto's finger formed a cross, and three clones appeared. They instantly charged the mirrors. Haku appeared next to the closest clone...

**Boom.**

Haku was sent flying as the clone exploded violently. The missing nin was lucky as she didn't collide with any of the ice mirrors. The original Naruto quickly formed a Rasengan and smashed it into one of the mirrors.

"**Rasengan!"**

The mirror was shattered into a thousand pieces and the team finally managed to escape the dome. Haku also flew out of the dome.

The Kekkei Genkai user was panting. Creating those mirrors had used up a sizable chunk of chakra and the constant summoning of ice weaponry didn't help much in terms of chakra preservation. Haku's mask also had a rather large crack running through the middle. Haku closed her eyes behind the mask, and focused. She already regretted what she was about to do, but she promised Zabuza-sama that she would not hesitate.

"**Sensatsu Suishō!"**

The air was filled with long, icy needles. Before any member of Team 7 could react, the thousand needles all shot forward...

Impaling Naruto.

Blood splattered.

Hinata cried, Sasuke gasped.

Naruto screamed.

Kyuubi was dispelled.

The pain was overwhelming. Naruto was screaming in agony. The sensation of being burned and frozen in every single spot in his body made Naruto's eyes tear up. The last thing he knew was that his knees gave in as he let out a final, bestial scream.

Everything went white.

Inside Naruto's mind.

Minato gasped. He wanted to interfere, but it was too late. His eyes directed themselves to the walkway where Naruto would always come from to enter his mindscape.

Minato turned to Kyuubi. Kyuubi looked at him, dumbfounded. Minato nodded to Kyuubi, and the fox got the hint. Kyuubi closed his eyes, but he heard Minato's words before he started.

"If you even think about trying anything funny, I'll make sure that you won't even get to begin to do whatever it may be."

With that, Kyuubi took control.

On the outside.

Hinata and Sasuke watched in horror as Naruto's body was impaled by the needles. They watched as his body started to fall over in slow motion, threatening to hit the ground face first.

Hinata wanted to cry. To scream. To shout. To fight in rage. To kill. Her and Sasuke's eyes were glued to Naruto's face as it slowly progressed towards the hard, concrete ground.

To the shock of everyone, including Zabuza and Kakashi who had stopped to see what had happened; Naruto's face never touched the ground. Instead, the blond extended one hand, and caught himself on that hand before hitting the ground. Getting back to his feet, Naruto balanced his body.

What added to that shock was that the whisker marks were a lot more pronounced. Naruto's fingernails had extended, making his hands look like claws.

Naruto's arms went to his side. With a loud grunt, a wave of red chakra erupted from his core, forcing all the needles out of his body. The wave of chakra washed over the ninjas, who were startled at how sinister the chakra felt. After all the needles were gone, the chakra formed some sort of thin layer around Naruto, giving him a red silhouette.

It was then when Naruto opened his eyes. His eyes were blood red.

Hinata gasped loudly. "N-N-Naruto-kun?"

The blond turned his head to her. His eyes analyzed her for a moment, sizing her up. Hinata wasn't sure, but she felt like Naruto was smiling at her slightly.

Without answering, Naruto turned to Haku.

He lowered his head a little, casting a shadow over his red eyes, making them glow.

"**You... You kid..."** A demonic voice said, that sounded familiar somehow.

"**You... You're fucking with the wrong demon."**

The end of the battle was coming.

**A/N:**

Yosh! I updated! And baby, this one is LONG! Over 10k words! You better review. Yes, REVIEW, NOW! This is my belated Merry Christmas present to you all. I've had a good couple of weeks, enjoying my holidays. This chapter is full of everything. We got Character Development, comedy, action. Heh! Kyuubi makes his important appearance

Please review. I spent lots of time on this one, and I think it was worth it. Reward me with a review, okay? Constructive Criticism is appreciated, as always. Think of it as a Christmas gift for me, mkay?

Also, keep sending me jutsus! Please! Woo! Fighting in the next one.

Sorry for any spelling mistakes. It's just that OpenOffice doesn't really like me today.

Thank you! Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year!


	16. The promise to keep

**A/N at the bottom, very important, please read.**

Sealed Within – Chapter 15: A promise to keep.

Naruto's possessed body charged Haku before none of the attending ninja could regain any sense of composure. Haku tried to lift her arms, but Kyuubi wasn't the infamous fox for nothing. He was inside her defenses in a matter of seconds and delivered a massive blow to Haku's stomach, sending the girl flying.

Kyuubi grinned, enjoying the feeling of controlling Naruto's body. The demon knew he couldn't go too far, but this would still provide the adequate amount of entertainment that the fox needed from time to time, as time inside his prison could be rather boring.

The nine tailed demon chased after the flying form of Haku. Haku was extremely surprised and shocked at the turn of events. She had seen Naruto take more damage than a human should be able to take! She had impaled almost every square millimeter of his body with ice needles, it should have knocked him out instantly. Instead of achieving that, Naruto had suddenly radiated with power, and his personality seemed to have changed. For the worse, that is.

Kyuubi grabbed Haku by her collar before she could hit the ground, displaying an incredible amount of abnormal speed. Another kick and Haku was sent straight into the air, flying a few meters above the ground with Kyuubi right beneath her.

Kyuubi quickly performed a set of seals and took a deep breath of air into Naruto's lungs. As Haku's short flight reached its peak, Kyuubi exhaled into her general direction, performing his first jutsu of the day.

"**Crimson Breath!"**

The fox exclaimed as a wave of pure demonic chakra escaped his mouth. The wave quickly formed into the shape of an arc and slammed into Haku who was just on her way down from the sky. She desperately cried out in pain as the force impacted on her back, sending her even higher into the air.

While Haku was still rising into the air, Kyuubi was contemplating on his next move.

"**I'm not supposed to kill 'er, so _that _is definitely out of question... How about... _this_? Nah. That'd hurt too much. Maybe... If I make it really underpowered to fit Human standards... Yeah, _that _sounds like a plan." **The demon practically said to no one but himself.

Everything, from Naruto being impaled to Kyuubi talking to himself, had happened in a matter of seconds. Everyone else was still gaping at the fox. Hinata had overly wide eyes, Sasuke didn't know how to react. Kakashi had never thought that the fox could take over Naruto, and he was fearing that the seal was breaking. Zabuza was probably more shocked than Haku herself, as no one had ever managed to defeat Haku.

The energy certainly didn't feel natural to him, it was so sinister that even he started to shiver unintentionally.

Sasuke, while still adapting to his new Sharingan eyes, could see the faint glow around Naruto's form with his enhanced vision. _'This... This is the power of the Kyuubi no Kitsune... The power of a demon... The power needed... The power _**_I_**_ need... to crush... _**_him!'_**

Before he could think further on the topic, Kyuubi had finished another set of seals and spoke the name of another jutsu that he had come up with.

"**Crimson Gauntlets!"**

Gauntlets of moderate size formed around Naruto's hands, wrists and parts of his arms. They protectively covered his arms, but his fingers now looked like vicious claws. The gauntlets were blood red and seemed to have red veins running through them. Sasuke could see that the red chakra was flowing through those veins, implying that Kyuubi could now channel chakra into the claws...

No matter how impressive these new weapons looked, Kyuubi wasn't satisfied at all. He created claws, but he wanted something duller, more hammer like. He wasn't supposed to kill, he reminded himself. Coming up with a quick solution, he remembered that he could use his chakra to change that...

Red chakra came from claws and engulfed them, surrounding them. The chakra took the form of a big fist.

Kyuubi now had two big chakra fists.

Oh boy.

The demon looked up and saw that Haku was slowly descending from her flight. A grin played around Naruto's face and the demon jumped into the air. To everyone but Sasuke and Kakashi, who had pulled his head band up by now, everything happened in a blur of red. The two however could see what Kyuubi was doing, and it surely wasn't pretty.

A right fist to the face, resulting in a major crack in the mask. A left fist to the side, making Haku bend to the left. A big left handed upper cut to the chin, adding more cracks to the mask and letting Haku's head snap backwards on levels that could be considered dangerous. A left fist to the stomach, followed by two quick strikes into the ribs. A last punch to the chest to set up Kyuubi's final attack.

Kyuubi reappeared behind Haku who was on the verge of unconsciousness. He brought the two chakra fists together and delivered a double-fisted over-head blow to Haku's back, sending her face first into the ground.

She was unconscious before she even hit the floor.

Zabuza gasped. His prized _tool;_ his prized _student_, had been defeated by that... thing... in a matter of seconds. A flash of red was all he saw, and suddenly the undefeated Haku had been defeated. She didn't even get a chance to retaliate, block or defend.

Haku's body was battered and bruised. She had a few shallow cuts from the rough landing, several cracked ribs and some other superficial injuries. Maybe a slightly fractured bone here or there, nothing too bad. Kyuubi had made sure not to harm the girl too much as his container would've been anything but happy about it. He didn't even want to think what Minato had in store for him in he had over done it.

Haku's mask slowly gave into the damage and fell into several small pieces, revealing the very beautiful face of a teenage girl which couldn't be any older than any of them were. Sasuke was anything but pleased by the revelation. They had been fighting against a girl, and if it hadn't been for Naruto's sudden change, they would've probably lost.

He formed a fist in annoyance and tried to ignore his emotions.

Things weren't looking good for Zabuza. He was out numbered, Kakashi and that Naruto kid could probably over power him and his sword had seen better days. Overall, Zabuza was anything but amused. He glared down at his right arm, which was severely burned from the fire attack earlier. His eyes wandered to Haku, and a feeling of guilt overcame the man.

Kakashi looked over at Zabuza and mentally prepared himself to finish the fight. But that wouldn't happen, as a third party decided to get involved.

Zabuza's instincts warned him and he barely managed to dodge two Katanas which were aimed at his arms. The tall man whirled around, looking for the new attacker. What he saw confused and surprised him to some extent.

The two swords belong to two of Gato's men. The fight between Naruto and Haku, despite its short duration, had been enough of a distraction to make both him and Kakashi fail to notice the army of thugs, with Gato in the lead, approaching their position. Gato had brought at least fifty men which were obviously nothing more than mercenaries.

"Gato? What the hell are you doing here, you can pay me when I'm done!" Zabuza growled, not liking this situation at all.

Gato was a short man. If one were to judge by his body height, one could conclude that, if his body was proportioned correctly, his height also reflected his equipment inside his pants, which again would explain the constant absence of women around him, which in turn would explain his rather short temper and foul mood. It was no wonder that he had to abduct women in the first place.

"Pay you? You think I'd actually _pay _you?" Gato asked with a slightly irritating laugh. "Give me a reason to pay you, 'oh so feared' Demon of the Mist! You couldn't even handle a pathetic bunch of kids, you didn't kill that Tazuna bastard and therefore you did not complete the job. No payment for you. Not that I'd pay you or your retard kid in the first place."

Zabuza lost all attention he had for Kakashi and his Genin team when Gato said that.

"You weren't gonna pay us in the first place!?" He growled with anger in his voice.

"No you idiot, of course not. Ninja like you are expensive, but you're also replaceable!"

Zabuza went quiet and turned to Kakashi.

"My business is over with you, Kakashi of the Sharingan. It was a pleasure meeting you."

Instantly, Zabuza turned around... and threw his massive sword with all the strength he could muster, putting his anger into the powerful throw.

The blade rotated and sailed through the air...

And ended up vertically splitting Gato's whole body into two pieces.

The business let out a silent scream as his existence was terminated by the Demon of the Mist.

It wasn't a pretty sight, and Hinata had to do her best to keep her stomach under control. The sword was very sharp, and proved that perfectly with this act. Gato's blood splattered everywhere, staining two of his body guards in a deep red. His organs spilled onto the floor, much to the disgust of Sasuke.

Kyuubi found the sight quite entertaining.

The men who stood behind Gato were perplexed. It took them a few moments to realize what just happened: Their main source of income was gone.

They angrily glared and Zabuza and charged.

"You'll PAY for that!!!" They roared, readying their surprisingly large array of weaponry.

"**I doubt that..." **Kyuubi said as he formed another set of seals.

"**Blood Mist: Demon Style!"**

For the attacking mercenaries, very think a mysterious mist appeared. What frightened them even more was the color of the mist: it was blood red.

One of the men turned to the left... only to stare into the most frightening thing he would ever see in his life. It was a deformed face, with open flesh wounds, missing facial parts, a gaping mouth with insects and parasites crawling around... And it came closer.

He screamed.

And so the screaming began.

A minute later, all of the attacking men were lying on the ground, whimpering and clutching their heads. They screamed around, calling for their mothers.

Kakashi looked at Kyuubi's red eyes and asked him. "What did you do?"

"**Oh, that? Just a funny Genjutsu I came up with on the spot."**

"What does it do?" Kakashi asked suspiciously. Was the seal breaking? Shouldn't the real Naruto be back by now?

"**It makes them see the... Blood Mist... the rest, believe me, you don't want to know."** Kyuubi explained smugly, content with his handiwork.

Kakashi accepted the explanation and checked up on Hinata and Sasuke.

"Are you two okay?"

The two nodded to his pleasure. They had some minor wounds, nothing Rin couldn't fix once the trio got back from gather their belongings from the small adjacent island.

Zabuza on the other hand went over to Haku and carefully picked the girl off the ground, making sure not to make her injuries any worse than they were. A look of regret could be seen on the man's face, as he never thought he'd be affected this much by his students injured state.

For years, Haku had been the only person for him to talk to, his only real human contact. He had taught her everything he knew, and he was proud of her, even if she didn't know that yet. Kyuubi was walking towards Kakashi and the Genin, when he suddenly froze and stopped instantly.

"**Hmm,"** He muttered, **"it seems like my time's up for today. See you later."**

He closed his eyes for a whole minute. When the eyes opened again, they were Azure Blue. Normal, blue eyes. Naruto was back.

Naruto looked around, a bit startled and confused. He still felt a bit funny after Kyuubi removing all the needles from his body.

"God, that was weird. But hey, I'm back!" He cheered, running up to his sensei and his friends.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata happily said, knowing that her love was back to normal.

–

An hour later, everyone sat in Tazuna's house, Haku and Zabuza included. Kakashi offered Zabuza that Rin could take a look at Haku's and his own injuries, as they weren't on fighting terms anymore.

Kushina and her entourage came back, and Minato explained everything that happened. When he reached the part where Naruto got stabbed by about a thousand needles, she went down right furious and didn't hide it at all...

"YOU LET WHAT HAPPEN TO MY SON!?!?" She screamed at him. Minato gulped and made a mad dash for the door as his wife was hot on his heels with a shiny Katana blade in her hands.

It took them several tries to calm her down, the group only succeeding when Naruto assured her that he was perfectly fine and that it wasn't his father's fault. When Minato told her it was Haku who skewered Naruto with those needles, Kushina shot Haku and Zabuza a murderous glare that made the Demon of the Mist want to shrink a few sizes, much to everyone's amusement.

After Rin healed everyone's wounds, Naruto decided to ask an all important question...

"Oi, Zabuza, Haku-san?" When he saw that he had their attention, he continued, "Why don't you guys... you know, come back to Konoha back with us? We've got the best ramen in the world!"

Before either of them could answer, Sasuke smacked him on the back of the head. "Baka, do you even know what you're doing? We were fighting against these two just a few hours ago!"

"Does that really matter, Sasuke-teme? They're missing nins, they have no ties to any other village! And they're really strong, I'm sure that Konoha can always find use for new, strong shinobi! Haku's got her own blood line, and you know how much people love blood lines in Konoha! I'm sure we can convince the Old Man and Ero-Sennin to accept them into the village!"

Kakashi thoughtfully nodded at his student's way of thinking. Konoha wasn't as strong as it was before the last Great Shinobi War, and these two would certainly make neat additions to their ranks. Minato rubbed his chin and wondered what he would do if he were in the position of an Hokage at that moment.

"Thanks for the offer, kid." Zabuza said, sounding as if he had just come to a decision after serious consideration. "But we won't accept that offer. Not now at least. Haku and I will keep going the way we are now, there's still some things that we have to do, right Haku?"

Haku gently smiled at Naruto for his offer and nodded. "Yes, Zabuza-sama. But thank you very much for you kind offer, Naruto-kun."

Naruto looked disappointed but smiled back.

–

It took them just over a day to finish the rest of the bridge, mainly because _every single person _in the village, young and old, helped building it. The village was in an uproar of happiness as they found out about Gato's death at the hands of Zabuza.

The mood only increased when they interrogated the thugs that Kyuubi had beaten quite badly. They found the location where Gato held most of the village's men which he had abducted. They were found and brought back to the village, much to the delight of the village's female population.

The village was in a major festival mood as they looted everything from the estate Gato had been living in. Alcohol and high quality food was brought, resulting in half the village unconscious from the enjoyment of alcoholic beverage.

Naruto had a lot of fun during the festival. He talked to many villagers and they asked him about his fight. He told them stories, and how he had fought against Haku as he couldn't reveal that Kyuubi was inside him. His sense of humor enlightened the villagers, as they all warmed up to the boy that had saved their village.

Inari underwent the most significant transition in terms of personality. He was now behaving how someone his age should, and immediately placed Naruto as his number one idol, also apologizing for what he had said earlier about there not being hero's in the world. Naruto in turn apologized for being so harsh on the boy, but Inari shrugged it of, saying that he had really needed that to snap out from his state of mind.

–

The group of 9 were standing at the beginning of the bridge, facing the whole village's inhabitants. They all looked very happy and thankful.

After several goodbyes and some tears including Naruto promising to return and visit them soon, they made their way over to the other side of the bridge. They were the first ones to ever cross the bridge, each of them reflecting on the things that happened in the past two weeks.

They all had their fair share of exciting events on this mission, especially Naruto. He was the one walking at the head of the group, a proud smile on his face. He couldn't wait to get home and eat ramen!

Hinata was walking behind him, herself being unsure of how to handle the situation. This mission had been anything but easy, and there had been lots of fighting involved. She hoped that she had done well, and she was planning on asking Naruto about that later on.

Once they reached the end of the bridge, Zabuza and Haku decided that it was their time to split off from the group and follow their own path.

"This is where our ways split, everyone." Zabuza announced, as he and Haku would take the road leading to the east instead of the one leading to the west; to Konoha.

They exchanged several goodbyes and Naruto pretty much forced the two to promise to think about joining Konoha or at least visiting the village if they were close by. The two agreed to his request and turned to their path, leaving the Konoha shinobi alone.

Naruto sighed and they made their way back home.

–

**A/N: Very first... **Youki Release: Crimson Breath **and **Youki Release: Crimson Gauntlets **were BOTH created by the amazing Kitsunegamer375. Thanks man, you're pretty much the only one who's truly helping me lately. He sent me over 70 techniques for god's sake.**

**Second, I have pretty much rewritten EVERY chapter. Not rewritten in the literal sense, but I've cleaned up a LOT of grammar stuff, merged some chapters, changed the titles, fixed spelling, and even filled some plot holes. You should check it out. Read the whole story once more, there HAVE been some changes.**

**I'd like some feedback, okay? Reviewing or PMing is fine. You may find that you cannot review this chapter, because I had to repost some chapters after merging some stuff together, so you might just have to PM me.**

**Do me the favor and review, I busted my ass of last chapter. I rushed through the boring part of the arc so you don't get bored. Now, hit that SHINY review button!  
**


	17. A month of intensity!

Sealed Within – Chapter 16: A month.

Naruto landed face first in the ground, groaning at the pain generated by the impact. His body was bruised; he had a small amount of cuts on his face, arms and legs. A trickle of blood ran down from the right corner of his mouth as the blonde kid forced himself off the ground, barely avoiding a powerful blow that left a small crater in nature's ground.

He threw three shuriken into the direction his instinct commanded him to, hoping to buy himself some time. Our blonde hero almost felt disappointed when he did not hear the sound of metal being embedded in the flesh of a human body as he sensed another impending attack.

Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto had come to a few realizations. One would be that his father was very strong. Extremely strong; rather. The second realization was that Jiraiya the perverted Sannin wasn't all looks and big words. In fact, he seemed just as strong as his father, which was suggested by the force of his kicks and punches as Naruto quickly found out.

How did he end up in this situation?

_Flashback_:

A knock was heard on the door leading to the Hokage's office. Hiruzen looked up from the random document he was working on, wondering why his guards didn't notify him of someone wanting to speak with him. Not knowing any better, he spoke up.

"Come in."

The door opened to reveal a blonde boy of young age. Then again, age could be quite deceiving. This boy was definitely not your ordinary boy.

It was Naruto.

"Naruto?" Hiruzen asked, baffled.

"Hey Old Man! What's up?"

"What are you doing here? And where are the Chunins guards at the door?"

"Ah well, I wanted to talk to you but they didn't let me in! So I threw a copy of Kakashi-sensei's books on the floor and they started brawling for it. Then I just decided to come in."

Hiruzen shook his head at the antics of his door guards. Defeated by a 12 year old kid and a pornographic novel…

"Shame on them. How can I help you, Naruto?"

It had been two days since Team 7 returned from their extended mission in Wave Country, bringing along Kushina and her two followers. Of course, the Third Hokage had been shocked to be bone when he saw her walk into his office.

The group told him their story of how they fought Zabuza and Haku; how they contributed to the killing of Gato and liberated Wave Country.

Then it was Kushina's turn to tell them how she and her entourage fared in their humble home near Wave Country's main island. Jiraiya appeared, claiming that he felt a familiar chakra entering the town. Needless to say, he was just as shocked to see Kushina. Naturally, he immediately made a remark of her not losing any of her bust size over the years, which resulted in a human sized imprint on a wall inside the office.

After that, Team 7, including Naruto, was dismissed. They headed straight for Ichiraku's, leaving the adults to further discuss events and plans for upcoming things.

That did not end too well.

The moment Team 7 was far away enough to be oblivious to the events happening inside the office, Kushina **thrashed** the place. Nothing was left standing in her fury as she **demolished** the office. Jiraiya got the beating of his life, only rivaled by the one he got when he tried, and failed, to conduct "research" on Tsunade's voluptuous body while she was bathing in the hot springs.

Kushina used words that would've made Ibiki blush like a schoolgirl and even Anko could've picked up a few new entries into her extensive vocabulary if she were there.

After that, she ranted for an hour straight, expressing her displeasure about the way certain 'things' were handled. Hiruzen felt seriously humbled and disappointed in himself, especially since he knew that her words and accusations were mostly true. She had made him feel down right guilty and bad, to such an extent he hadn't felt in a long time.

Even though Jiraiya was on the verge of consciousness, he too knew that her words were true and that his excuse of having to keep tabs on Orochimaru would never work on her.

She ranted about the way her son had to live for 12 years.

She ranted about Hiruzen not utilizing his power to protect him.

She ranted about Jiraiya not being there to protect his godson.

The only one that got out of the meeting unharmed was Minato, who felt sorry for his elders, and supportive of Kushina's words and actions at the same time. He felt similar to her, but would've never had the ability to express his emotions as violently as his wife. It has always been like that.

After Kushina was finished, she gave the two men another intensely dirty and angry look before storming out of the office with Minato hot on her heels.

Sarutobi could've sworn that he saw tears glistering in her eyes. But he could be mistaken.

/ **(this is my new way of indicating a scene change)**

Naruto waved his hand in front of the Hokage's face. "Ne, Old Man! Are you okay?"

Sarutobi quickly shook his head, pushing the memory into the back of his mind for a more in depth analysis of his faults at a later point in time.

"Oops, sorry. I just spaced out there for a moment, Naruto. So, what brings you here? Shouldn't you be training with your team right now?"

"Yeah, but you know how Kakashi-sensei is. I've got a few hours to spare before he decides to come. Hinata and Sasuke are still at home."

"Ah, okay."

Naruto shuffled around a bit and took a seat on the other end of Sarutobi's desk. He looked quite serious and collected, much to Sarutobi's surprise.

"Okay Gramps. I've spent a lot of time thinking about what happened in our last mission. I almost took a life… And my life was almost taken away from me. The Kyuubi is the only reason why I am sitting here having this conversation with you! If it hadn't been for its power, I would be dead now. Not only me, but Sasuke, Hinata-chan and Kakashi-sensei as well! They are my only friends in this village Old Man, and I know that they will hurt deep on the inside if I were to die! It's the same with me, I don't think I could bear seeing one of them die in front of me when I knew that I could've prevented it if I only were stronger! If one of them were to die… I don't know what I would do, Old Man. I know the Kyuubi doesn't seem like too much of a bad guy, but we can't be sure. Maybe he is just waiting for me to break down to take over. I'm not sure whether I could resist if something like that happened. That is why I am here today Gramps. I need to be stronger. I want to be stronger. I want to protect everyone, no matter what! So please, send me on a training mission with my Dad so I can train with him. Please!" Naruto explained, looking quite emotional during his speech.

Sarutobi sighed and began lighting his favorite pipe. It wasn't even afternoon yet and he already felt that infamous headache approaching.

Naruto sat in his seat, intently watching the man, awaiting a response.

After a healthy hit of nicotine, the elderly leader stood up and approached the large window behind him, looking over the village he loved so dearly. He considered Naruto's request and knew that he wouldn't be able to talk the young Shinobi out of this request.

"I know that you are young Naruto, but you need to understand something important." He said after a while, exhaling a small ring of smoke.

"What is it?"

Hiruzen scratched his chin a bit before he continued.

"Do you think that your team mates are strong?"

Naruto certainly did not expect that question but answered immediately anyway.

"Of course they're strong! They're very talented and we work very well as a team!"

Sarutobi nodded, seemingly satisfied with that answer. "Good. Naruto, what you must understand is that you cannot always protect everyone, not matter how much you want to."

"Yes, but-"

"If you think that your team mates aren't strong enough to handle themselves, then you are not worthy to be their team mate. It's called a 'team' for a reason, and you should not do everything by yourself. You cannot expect that you will be able to protect your friends at all times, Naruto. But I see your point, and training with your father may be beneficial to your control over the Kyuubi. Thus, I shall grant your request and send you on a one month long training mission with your father and-"

"And with ME of course!" Another voice added from the now open window. Needless to say, it was the infamously perverted Sannin Jiraiya sitting in the open window with a goofy smile.

All Naruto could do was groan.

/

That's how Naruto got into this situation. And he didn't like it at all. He didn't quite think that his Dad and Jiraiya literally meant "we will train you into the ground so that will faint into sleep each night".

Jiraiya took them to a place Naruto had never been to before. The place was a three-hour walk away from the village. The place was a valley inside the mountain range near Konoha and was quite hard to find. Minato told him that this was the place where he and Jiraiya trained a lot together.

The valley had a forested part and a river running through it in a zigzag pattern. It was actually quite a beautiful landscape and Naruto was very much ready to train there.

That was three days ago.

Naruto didn't think that the villagers had ever beaten him up as much as this. Jiraiya and Minato decided that Naruto should first improve in Taijutsu, which consisted of speed, reflex, technique and strength. They said that the best way to do this would be "to throw Naruto into the cold water" by attacking him from all sides with varying degrees of skill. To add to that, Naruto had the amount of weight on his arms and legs increased, which made this a lot harder.

Naruto's constant movement honed his reflexes to new levels. The commonly referred 'Sixth Sense' was definitely developing as he dodged, jumped, and retaliated.

Training was hard and long. Naruto would wake up just as the sun appeared on the horizon and would be greeted with Jiraiya's foot. His body had to evade before the mind was even properly awake, much to his annoyance. Jiraiya and Minato would attack him with Taijutsu for around three hours until they let the young boy rest and eat for an hour or two, which Naruto normally used to bathe in the river.

After that, weapons were brought into the equation and Naruto had to defend against shuriken and kunai, and also against the occasional short sword or Katana.

He quickly learned to use the terrain to his advantage, as he would often try and delay the amount of time between each attacks by bringing the river, large boulders and rocks or trees between himself and his attackers.

Kyuubi found all of this very interesting, entertaining, and wondered when he would be needed for more training with his chakra.

These parts of training were like really small skirmishes each time. Minato would attack, Naruto would block, dodge and counter attack in quick succession. A few moments later, Minato would withdraw and Jiraiya would appear, doing the same.

This would carry on each night until the sun started to set. They ate dinner together, which Jiraiya had brought from the village in a huge scroll.

After dinner, they would go over Naruto's technique. The two legends gave him tips, changed his stance around, and commented on flaws they noticed during their spars. They displayed new moves in slow motion for him, and the boy sucked up a lot of information in a very short time.

After that, it was bedtime. Minato would just disappear back into Naruto, who slept in a sleeping bag on top of a mattress that Jiraiya had in his sealing scroll. Sleeping in a sleeping bag made it difficult for Naruto to dodge the initial attacks, which gave him quite a few bruises, but it was obvious that none of his future opponents would wait for him to be ready if they were to ambush him.

During nighttime, while sleeping, Naruto replayed the fights in his mind with the Kyuubi and Minato, and the two commented on each of his moves and decisions during the fight, telling him what to change around and what he did well.

Long story short: Naruto was getting a highly intense hardcore training week with the two with him improving rapidly.

After five days of this intense training, Naruto managed to go the entire day without any significant bruises or cuts.

After six, he was able to counter attack, and landed a few glancing blows on Minato and Jiraiya, much to their surprise, but also much to their satisfaction as it was becoming obvious as to just how much stronger Naruto was getting in this short amount of time.

And there wasn't even a rush for it. There weren't any major threats to Naruto, his friends or the village, yet he the boy treated the training very seriously as if his life depended on it.

After a full seven days, Naruto's taijutsu had most likely surpassed that of any other Genin in Konoha. His speed had improved majorly as his weights were increased by a few kilos each day.

But of course, he wasn't the only one training.

/

Back in Konoha, Sasuke found himself hanging off a cliff. Quite literally. The Hokage decided it would be a great idea for ALL of Team 7 to undergo a training regiment. He came to this conclusion due to the fact that Team 7 had easily more competed missions than the double of the other two rookie teams' missions added together. Kakashi was instructed to "drill" Sasuke. And so he did.

Sasuke's right arm was bound to his waist with a chakra-enforced rope. He was climbing up the side of a cliff with only his left arm. Kakashi had placed chakra-absorbing seals on Sasuke's feet, meaning that he could use his feet to stabilize himself and find a good hold on the edgy Cliffside, but he could not utilize chakra to glue himself to the rock.

Kakashi was glued to the rocks next to him, observing his student with one eye while reading his newest book with the other. Kakashi had come to the conclusion that Sasuke's bodily condition was not nearly as good as it could be, thus he forced him to climb up cliff singlehandedly. He did this himself for physical training.

Knowing that Naruto was training with the Yondaime, Sasuke would push himself very, very hard, deciding that would not allow himself to fall behind his teammate.

Sasuke had to do this twice a day. Once with his left arm, and once with his right. The constant strain was dangerous, but Kakashi was confident in his student. Of course, if Sasuke were to fall, he would be there immediately to prevent his student from hitting the bottom. The council would kill him if that happened.

But that wasn't all that Sasuke had on his plan. Kakashi was also planning on teaching him new techniques; improve his chakra control, but also his speed.

All whilst reading a book.

/

Hinata pushed herself just has hard as her teammates. Kushina requested to be assigned to Hinata, which the Hokage gladly did. Even if he refused, she would've done so anyway.

Hinata's confidence took a plunge once she found out that she would be training with Naruto's mother for a whole month. Was she good enough for her attention? Would she do well? What if she didn't? Would she then disapprove of her being together with Naruto? What if-

All those thoughts were pushed aside when she remembered her promise to become stronger. She remembered that she once told herself that she would be strong so that she would not slow down Naruto-kun.

The first day of training was rather particular.

After Naruto and Minato left in the morning to start their own training, which of course included Naruto hugging Hinata and saying that they will continue training together when he got back, she found herself alone with Kushina outside the Hokage's office. Kushina had been staying in Konoha hospital for the few days for mandatory medical checks.

Kushina took her back to the apartment Hinata and Naruto stayed in. As she didn't have time to properly examine where Naruto actually lived, she asked Hinata to show her around the apartment.

Hinata was a bit nervous when she did so, considering that it wasn't even her apartment.

Kushina examined the apartment for around ten minutes. She was looking into the closet, the cupboards and the bathroom.

When she finished her examination, she looked very grim.

She pulled out a sealing scroll and told Hinata to start gathering her own and Naruto's belongings.

They spent the first day of training moving.

Naruto was in for a big surprise when he got home.

/

Back with Naruto.

Naruto was enjoying the cool water as he cleaned himself of the blood, sweat and grime that had settled on him in the hours before. He finished washing his hair when he heard the familiar sound of a kunai piercing the air resistance as it flew towards him. The weapon was directly aimed at his head but he almost effortlessly caught the weapon with his free hand.

He looked to the edge of the river to see his father sit on the branch of a tree, whirling another kunai around his finger. He waved to Naruto, making a sign that indicated that he should finish and come over. Naruto waved back and swam to the edge of the river to grab his towel and dry himself off.

When Naruto was dressed and ready to fight, he joined his father and Jiraiya. Eight days have passed and it was time for the next stage of training.

"Kid, I'm impressed at how much you have improved in the past week. Honestly, your taijutsu was subpar when we got here. Of course, this just proves how awesome we are as teachers, right Minato?"

"Definitely. Now, it is time for you to learn and improve in another field of combat."

"Yes, finally! What are we working on next?"

"Combat techniques."

"Huh?" Naruto asked slightly confused. Wasn't that the same as fighting in general?

"Combat techniques consist of a few things. Taijutsu is part of that, but we've covered that already. The next main part is Ninjutsu and Genjutsu. We have no idea whether you have any skill in Genjutsu, so we will cover that next week. So, for now, we will mainly focus on Ninjutsu."

"Okay." All Naruto really got from that was that Combat Techniques was what he really thought it was – ninja combat.

"So, what does Ninjutsu consist of?" Minato asked.

"Let's see… Chakra control I guess."

"That too. But there's more. You can control your chakra all you want, but it will be useless if you can't perform a technique fast enough. So, another form of speed comes into play here. So, first of all, we will once more work on your chakra control."

Naruto groaned.

"Now, what does chakra control consist of?" Jiraiya continued.

"I have no clue, Ero-sennin. Can't you two stop asking all these questions and just teach me!"

"Stop calling me that. Anyway, the core to chakra control is concentration. And as we all know, concentration is a major problem for you. You have the attention span of a puppy when it comes to most things."

"I don't have a short attention span- woah, look at that bird!" Naruto exclaimed, proving Jiraiya's point.

"So, let's get started then."

/

Two meters.

That was the diameter of the circle Hinata was standing in. Her feet were close to another, her knees just touching. Her head was slightly tilted towards the ground. The back of her left hand was resting on her lower back; her right hand was extended to the side.

Her magnificent eyes were closed, Byakugan deactivated. A small spiral-shaped seal adorned her pure forehead.

The index finger on her right, extended, hand was glowing.

Her surroundings were foggy, as she stood in the middle of the forest. There were no sounds that did not belong there; all she heard were the birds chirping, the leaves rustling and the bugs crackling.

Somewhere in the forest a leaf slowly, yes, almost lazily, sailed through the gentle breeze of the late afternoon towards the ground. That was the unofficial sign Kushina waited for.

The first shuriken sailed through the air. Then a kunai and another shuriken.

Within seconds, the sound of weaponry piercing through the air filled the forest, corresponding with the enormous amount of weaponry rushing towards Hinata.

A small smile tugged on the corners of her petite mouth.

She did not open her eyes.

It was over as fast as it began.

Hinata was panting, down on one knee, face covered in a layer of fresh sweat. Dozens and dozens of kunai and shuriken filled the clearing. When she looked up, Kushina was already standing in front of her with a large smile on her face. Hinata noticed some of her clones going around to pick up the weapons she had just deflected with a single finger. Hinata got up and wiped the sweat off her face with the towel Kushina handed her.

When she looked down at the towel after wiping her face, she noticed some blood on the material. She touched the part of the face she assumed the blood would've come from and felt that she had a cut there. A sting on the other cheek made her conscious of another cut. She frowned at that.

"I think that's enough for today Hinata, let's go home."

Hinata kept looking down at the blood on the towel. "Ano… Kushina-sensei? If… If you don't mind, could we give it one last try?"

Kushina was about to decline but noticed a particular glint in her student's eyes. That look felt eerily familiar to the red head, but she couldn't pin point where she'd seen it before.

"Alright, one last run. Then we're getting some well deserved dinner at Ichiraku's, okay?" She agreed with a smile and a new level or respect for her shy student.

Hinata nodded thankfully and stepped back into the circle. The cuts on her face were nothing major, she could already feel them itching from her body starting to heal.

'_This time… this time I'm gonna do it!'_

Kushina could almost hear her determination.

At exactly the same time, Sasuke found himself buried in the ground, all the way to the chin. Adding to that was the fact that a fireball the size of his personal ego was heading his way. It was a huge fireball.

'_Damn it. This better work or Kakashi'll have to teach me in a hospital bed.'_

Chakra formed around his buried palm.

Hinata and Kushina were sitting at Ichiraku's, eating ramen. Ichiraku himself looked like he'd just seen a ghost, which to some extent was justifiable, as Kushina hadn't been at his store for over a decade now. His daughter Ayama took an immediate liking to the red headed woman. She was beautiful, looked very strong, smiled all the time and was friendly to everyone she talked to. Basically everything a girl of Ayame's age would dream of being.

Hinata was in a great mood too. She managed to deflect and avoid every single weapon in the final run, and she felt like she had finally accomplished something great.

Kushina was impressed. She wasn't a woman one could easily impress, but Hinata had done so successfully.

"You did an awesome job, Hinata! I really can't believe it."

"Really… sensei? Thank you."

"You do realize that you've just managed to avoid and mostly deflect over 250 projectiles with ONE finger, whilst being confined to a circle with a two meter radius, not using your Kekkei Genkai at all? That is incredible, really. I mean, you're a genin and I know some Jonin that can't do that."

Naturally, the former Hyuuga heiress started to blush in a bright shade of red.

"But that's all thanks to you, sensei. You said that I depended on my Byakugan and that wasn't a good thing."

"Yeah, that is true. Like I said Hinata, relying on anything, anything at all, is bound to end in a painful failure. It'd be easy to avoid those weapons with your Byakugan, which you've proven to me a few days earlier. But as your teacher, I've made it my responsibility to make sure that you stop relying on your eyes. So we're gonna make sure that your reflexes are so sharp that you can consider your entire body a Byakugan in some sense." Kushina reminded her with a smile. It was true, two days earlier they did a similar exercise with just as many weapons, but Hinata did use her entire body and her bloodline limit back then.

In the past week, Kushina had spent their time assessing Hinata's skill in all fields of combat. She found out quite a few interesting things. Hinata had chakra control of levels many shinobi would have wet dreams about. If it hadn't been perfect before, the time she had spent with Minato and Naruto working on chakra control had definitely brought it to that level. Also, the young Hyuuga had a level of flexibility that would make Jiraiya drool at the perverted implication. What she lacked in power, she made up for in speed and creativity. Kushina instantly noticed how Hinata did not restrict herself to the classic and traditional fighting style of the Hyuuga clan, but implement her own modification and spontaneous things if there was an opening for such. She used some basic jutsu, her surroundings and everything her body had to offer as an advantage. Kushina realized that this would probably be Minato's work and felt proud of her husband for not being an idiot for once.

"Well Hinata, with that part done, I have a really good idea of your capabilities in combat. The next three weeks will consist of me starting to built a good arsenal of jutsu for you, both ninjutsu and genjutsu. Whilst we haven't really touched genjutsu yet, your control and imagination will definitely be a good help in that area. Of course we won't forget about physical training and combat, but that'll pretty much come along with the ninjutsu training. Sound good?"

Hinata nodded happily. She had also learned quite a bit about her sensei over the past week, but there was still a question bothering her.

"Sensei… can I ask a question."

"I'm all ears."

"Uh… well… why… why are you doing all this?"

"Doing what?"

"All of this. Training me, putting so much effort into me. Hokage-sama said that you asked me to be assigned to you..."

"Well Hinata, there are a few reasons. One of those would be that you're a really kind girl and I like you as a person. Then there is the fact that you're my son's teammate. Of course there is the thing that you've stood by my mistreated boy for a long time now, and that you're really like your mother was back in the day. Another thing is that you deserve more than your fucked up beyond belief family, and I'd be happy to help, and protect, you in anyway I can. Oh, and I think you and Naruto make the cutest couple!" Kushina explained with a cheesy grin on her face.

If Hinata wasn't red from all the praise earlier, she was now as red as a traffic light on a busy intersection.

"N-N-N-Naruto-k-kun and I are j-j-just teammates and f-f-friends…" She someone managed to stutter out, but even a deaf person would've heard the real implications in that sentence.

"Of coooooooooooooooourse you are." Kushina teased. "For nooooooooow maybe. But eventually Naruto will come to his senses and see the real you, don't worry. He's just a bit dense and it'll take some time."

Hinata didn't reply, not that she could in this state. She was as red as a freshly spanked butt, didn't trust her own voice and would probably faint any second as Kushina pretty much encouraged her to try and be Naruto's girlfriend.

A comfortable silence settled in between the two as they continued eating their meal.

After Hinata calmed down to some extent, she decided to ask another question.

"Ano, sensei. How do you think Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun are doing?"

"I checked up on Kakashi yesterday to steal something useful from him. He and Sasuke are working quite hard and they boy has progressed quite a bit, especially on the physical level. I think Kakashi noticed that he was kinda pale and a tad too lean so he really worked him in terms of physical strength. Like, if his fan girls see him now, they'll go rabid and try to rape him, no kidding. If he was good looking in Academy days, Kakashi has successfully made him a sex god to all his fangirls. They started working on ninjutsu yesterday too, so I think Sasuke'll be a lot more powerful in three weeks time.

I was too lazy to attempt and find out where Naruto's training with Ero-sennin and Minato, but knowing those two, they'll train him real good. They probably started on a physical level too, considering that Naruto's taijutsu was probably subpar. I assume he's made as much, maybe even more, progress than Sasuke. He'll probably be a real looker for the ladies when he gets back. Tanned and tanked, so they say. But yeah, Team 7 will be very, very strong when you three reunite and I can't wait for that! So we'll make sure that we work just as hard, okay?"

Hinata nodded somewhat absentmindedly. Her thoughts were drifting to Kushina's words of Naruto possibly being even more handsome when he comes back from his training. Then she thought about Kushina saying that he'd be a real looker for other girls. A never-before seen flame appeared in Hinata's eyes at her picturing of Naruto being together with another girl than her.

"Yes sensei, we must work just as hard. No, we must work harder!"

Kushina grinned an almost seedy grin. She had, metaphorically, played her cards perfectly.

Indeed, Team 7 would never be the same.

/

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat comfortably in his office in the morning. Ever since all of Team 7 had been assigned their individual training regimes, it had been a bit more quiet and peaceful for him. He still thought a lot about the words Kushina had said the last time she had been in his office.

But now, he was busy with something different. On his table he had several timetables spread out, as well as letters he had received over the past few months.

The elderly man groaned at the tight schedule one of the timetables dictated. He didn't like it one bit, but it wasn't the first time that he had to deal with this.

Yes, it was Konoha's turn to host the next set of Chunin Exams.

The letters on his table were confirmations by several high ranked and influential people, ranging from politicians to rich business partners of Konoha as well as a letter from the Kazekage who agreed to attend as his children were going to be participants in the tournament.

The old man sighed. He snapped with his finger, and an ANBU member immediately stood in front of his desk.

"Hokage-sama?"

"Please go and inform all Jonin and Chunin of a meeting next Friday. Tell them it's about the Chunin Exams coming up."

The ANBU nodded without hesitation and set out to find all available Jonin and Chunin.

'_I'm really getting too old for this. This should be Minato's job, not mine.'_

/

At the same time, around 250 Narutos sat in the clearing, each frowning at the mounting frustration. The original Naruto flew through the air due to the strong backlash from the technique he was learning.

"Grr! Dad, demonstrate again! Everyone, look!"

Minato nodded and raised his hand, palm facing the sky. The blue sphere formed in his palm, rotating wildly on the inside. He rammed the blue sphere into a nearby tree and all the 250 Narutos nodded.

"Alright, lets try again!"

Jiraiya sat on a branch of a tree, working on his latest novel while observing Naruto's progress. And that progress was stunning, even to him. They had been up since 5 in the morning, teaching Naruto this technique.

They really wanted to start on a smaller scale with simpler techniques or modifications of techniques Naruto already knew, but the boy insisted on starting with the Rasengan. They had tried to talk him out of it, but he refused and his stubbornness eventually won against Jiraiya and Minato, especially since Naruto had been made aware of the other function the Kage Bushin technique had.

It was now around noon and Naruto had already mastered the first stage and was just about to master the second stage of the Rasengan.

'_Minato took 3 years to create this. It took me around 3 months, same for Kakashi, to learn this technique. At this rate, the kid will have it down by either tonight or tomorrow morning. He'll probably pass out from all the information he'll get from all his clones, but it's worth the price I guess. We still have over two weeks time, so by the end of this, he might even have invented his first technique or two along side everything we're teaching him.'_

Jiraiya was just about to start writing the next paragraph for his _Icha Icha: The Great Escapade_ volume, but he froze just before his pen touched the paper. He frowned, set the pen aside and appeared next to Minato. Minato turned and immediately noticed the change in attitude by Jiraiya.

"What's wrong?"

"One of my sentries is in pursuit of someone suspicious. I'll go and check it out, you make sure that the kid doesn't kill himself."

Jiraiya didn't bother waiting for agreement and disappeared in a whirl of leaves.

Minato turned back to the sea of clones and yelled.

"Naruto! Time for a break! I'm gonna make some instant ramen!"

His son nodded and prepared himself for an onslaught of information as his clones started to dispel themselves one after another.

It took them a few minutes, leaving the real Naruto dizzy. His head was spinning and aching and he was sure he would've passed out if Kyuubi's chakra hadn't helped his head to cope with the stress. The boy spent a good fifteen minutes just lying on the ground, organizing all the experiences and memories he received from his clones.

When he felt the aching in his head stop, he got up and headed over to where his father was preparing their meal.

Minato looked at his son and noticed the large smile on his face.

"You seem to be happy."

"I think I've finally found the final part to the puzzle dad! I think I know how to make a stable Rasengan now!"

"Are you sure? Even though you have all the help from your clones, I spent 3 years making this technique and Jiraiya-sensei took 3 months until he finally got it down. You haven't even spent a full day learning this."

"Who cares? I'll show you when we're done eating. Where is Ero-jisan by the way?"

"Eh, he said something about his toads following someone suspicious and decided to check it out."

"Someone suspicious?"

"Yeah. That someone must be really suspicious, otherwise he wouldn't be bothered to actually go and check it out."

/

Jiraiya was following a man who, at first glance, did not look suspicious. He did not look like a threat, as he was wearing normal travelling gear that civilians often wore for hiking or longer trips. But Jiraiya quickly noticed that this person was definitely not a traveler. He moved too swiftly, seemed to be acutely aware of his surroundings and constantly kept glancing to his sides and occasionally, behind him.

'_A shinobi, eh? Not one of Konoha's forces, that's for sure. And since he's heading the opposite direction of Konoha, it's safe to assume that he is coming from Konoha, meaning that he was IN Konoha, and meaning that he must be an infiltrator. Better make sure that his information doesn't reach its destination. But first, I should check if he's gonna meet up with somebody.'_

So Jiraiya followed this suspicious shinobi, using some of his more refined techniques to stay unnoticed. 'Rather safe than sorry,' he always said.

After half an hour, the suspect entered a clearing in the woods, looking left and right.

'_This must be the rendezvous point.'_

Out of the shadows another figure came into view. The two did not exchange any greetings or words, but the one that Jiraiya was following reached into his bag and pulled out a medium sized scroll. That was Jiraiya's cue.

A few seconds later, the two of them were unconscious on the floor, their hands and feet tied together with some chakra enforced rope used for detaining prisoners. He grabbed the scroll while he waited for the two to regain consciousness. After a careful examination he determined that the scroll wasn't booby-trapped and opened it. He skim read the text and the gap between his eyebrows closed.

'_This is an accurately detailed summary of Konoha's defense forces and location of said defensive forces.'_

He put the scroll away as he noticed the two slowly regaining their senses. After a few hand seals, a fleshy environment – the Giant Frog's stomach that no one has ever escaped from before, surrounded them.

His two prisoners were confined to the walls, their limbs sucked in by the flesh.

When they regained their consciousness, Jiraiya pulled out a kunai and a feather from his pack, and spoke to them before they even had the chance to open their mouths.

"The way this ends is totally up to you. The easy way would simply be to talk and tell me everything."

As neither of them said anything, Jiraiya continued.

"I'm sure you two know who I am and what I am capable of. You sure you want to see if the legends are true?"

One of the two spoke up. "That doesn't matter anyway. No matter what you'd do to us, it'd be a lot less painful than what our master would do to us if he knew about this."

"Your master?" Jiraiya asked.

Neither answered.

The Sannin sighed.

"The hard way then. Maybe you two should know that no one can hear you scream."

With that, Jiraiya got ready for some of his favorite interrogation techniques.

/

A week later, all Jonin and Chunin were assembled inside a large room inside the Hokage's tower.

After Kakashi arrived, only 15 minutes delayed, everyone was present and the Hokage began his talk about the Chunin exams. He talked about who was already confirmed to come to watch the final round and who he had chosen to be the examiners of the Exam.

"Ibiki will take the first round. He'll take care of the fake written exam." Every one nodded and some Jonin instructors looked doubtful, definitely wondering if their team had a chance against the infamous Ibiki and his even more infamous skills.

"The second round will be taken by Anko. The forest of death will be the traditional setting for the survival round." This announcement caused more Jonin and a few Chunin to frown. Anko was known for, well, being herself and her past with a certain Sanin.

"If, which is unlikely, a preliminary third round is to be held due to too many survivors in round 2, then Hayate will be the examiner." A round of approving nod went through the ranks. Hayate was well respected by his peers for his all-round skills and his ability with a sword.

"The final will be supervised by Hayate as well. Now, let's come to the most important part, which is the participants. As you all know, every Genin is entitled to enter, as long as their sensei approves and they enter as an entire team. So, who'd like to enter their team?"

The Jonin who wanted their teams to participate raised their hands. Among those hands were the hands of Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai and Gai.

Sarutobi went through the people with raised hands, asking each to state their name, team number and names of each team member.

Eventually Sarutobi came to Gai.

"I, the mighty Maito Gai, epitome of youth, approve that my Team, Team 10, consisting of Lee, Hyuuga Neji and Ten-ten, enters the Chunin Exam!" Gai exclaimed, flames burning in his eyes and him pointing a thumbs up into the general direction of the Hokage. The Hokage nodded and his assistant wrote down the names listed.

After that, it was Kurenai's and Asuma's turn.

"I, Yuuhi Kurenai, allow my team, Team 8, consisting of Haruno Sakura, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino, to enter the Chunin Exam."

"I allow Team 10 to enter the exam. Members are Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino and Akimichi Chouji, my name is Sarutobi Asuma."

Then, it was Kakashi's turn.

"I, Hatake Kakashi, permit Team 7 and its members, Hyuuga Hinata, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto, to enter the Chunin Exam."

At that, a lot of hushed comments could be heard throughout the room. Some were discussing the unusual fact that all three rookie teams were allowed to enter the exam, some were talking about how promising it would be to see the last Uchiha to progress through the exam, and some debated on how Naruto should not be allowed to either be on Sasuke's team or even enter the exam.

Gai looked at Kakashi in his usual, almost creepy way, and spoke in his booming and loud voice.

"Yosh! My eternal rival and unbelievably cool and suave Kakashi has entered his team as well! They shall compete in the quest for the glory of youth!" After his booming announcement, Gai became a bit more serious. "But do you really think it is a wise choice to enter a rookie team, Kakashi? I didn't enter my team in their first year so they could gain some more experience before entering such an important exam.

Iruka saw this as an excellent opportunity to agree and voice his own opinion.

"I agree with Gai-san. I've taught Naruto and of course Sasuke and Hinata, so I have a good idea of how strong they are… No offense Kakashi-sempai, but isn't it too early to-"

"They are my students now, Iruka. You have absolutely no idea of how strong they have become, especially Naruto. They've faced a team of A-Rank missing nins and won. They've spent the last two weeks with teachers of their choice, improving by leaps and bounds. You wouldn't believe how different Naruto is now, Iruka. If everyone at the academy had been as good as a teacher as you were to him, Naruto would've easily been as strong as Sasuke, maybe even stronger. I'd bet my entire Icha Icha collection that each member of my team is stronger than you by the end of the next two weeks." Kakashi had a hard look in his eyes when he made that claim.

Before anyone could answer, a voice spoke from the door.

"I'd bet my life savings on that too, Kakashi." Jiraiya announced. Next to him stood Kushina. "In fact, I'd bet that Naruto could take on any Chunin Konoha has to offer by the end of the next two weeks."

That brought a lot of murmurs into the ranks of the attending shinobi. Someone random asked "How would you know that, Jiraiya-sama!"

"Because I'm his teacher." That got the attention of everyone. Why would the legendary, and only loyal to Konoha, Sanin bother teaching the demon?

"Why! You could be teaching Sasuke-kun-"

"Silence, fool. Sasuke this, Sasuke that. He's talented, yeah. He's an Uchiha, yeah. If a few certain assholes at the academy had the brains to maintain their professionalism with every single student, we'd have a lot more promising Genin. But that's not what I'm here for." Jiraiya's mood was anything but good and no one dared to provoke him any further.

"Indeed, I was just about to ask what you're doing here, Jiraiya. Shouldn't you be teaching Naruto? And why are you here, Kushina?" Sarutobi asked.

"I ran into here when I was looking for you, so I took her along with me. She IS a Konoha Jonin, after all. Anyway, there has been an interesting development."

"Development?"

"Yes. I suggest that everyone here leaves. Now." None of the attending shinobi had the balls to ask what was going on, so they quickly made their way to the door. "Kakashi, Gai. You two stay." The two turned around and waited until everyone else was gone. When the room was empty, Jiraiya put up a sound proof barrier and gestured the two other Jonin to stand next to him and Kushina.

"What is it, Jiraiya?" Sarutobi asked, a serious expression his face. It must be something very important if Jiraiya bothered to come all the way back from the mountains he was training in with Minato and Naruto.

"Yes. To make it as short as possible: Orochimaru assassinated the Kazekage, is now pretending to be him, is also the leader of the newly formed hidden Sound village, and plans on invading Konoha during the final stage of the Chunin Exams."

Silence followed as the information sunk in.

And with that, Jiraiya began to tell the story of how he interrogated two underlings of Orochimaru and how that had lead to him contacting a few of his subordinates to make some confirmations….

/

Two weeks later…

Minato, Jiraiya and Naruto were only minutes away from the gates leading into Konoha. They all looked happy to be back home, especially Naruto who couldn't wait but to go and sink his teeth into some delicious ramen noodles.

He was wearing a simple white shirt with an orange spiral on the back, and what was left of his orange pants. His father had forced him to take his jacket off, but couldn't make Naruto throw it out just yet.

Looking back at the past month, he smiled at how much fun he had learning from his two teachers. The amount of new things they had taught him was incredible and he couldn't wait to show them to his teammates. This lead to his wondering of how far Hinata and Sasuke had progressed. Had they learned as many new things as he had? Did they have fun? He'd find out soon.

The guards let them pass without a word, Jiraiya's presence was all they needed.

The three headed straight for the Hokage's tower. Hiruzen was delighted to see Naruto again and asked him what his two teachers had taught them. Naruto listed some techniques that made Sarutobi raise his eyebrows. After Naruto was done, the Hokage dismissed them and told him that Team 7 had the day and the next day off to do some recovering. Naruto nodded and the trio headed for his apartment. Jiraiya didn't know why he decided to hang around, especially since he could be doing a few more productive things such as making plans on how to fight off the upcoming invasion or to investigate if the average bust size of the female population had seen any increase over the past month.

When they reached the apartment, they found a letter pinned to Naruto's front door.

Confused, Naruto took it off the door and read it once, then another time. Still confused, he handed the letter to his father, who smiled after reading it. It seemed as if Kushina had been here with Hinata.

"I see how it is… well, it was about time. Come on Naruto, let me show you your new home."

Still confused, Naruto didn't have another choice but to follow his father. They walked all the way back to the Hokage tower, then past it. They kept walking to an area that was close to the mountain range, as well as close to the forest – a 20-minute walk from the Hokage tower, or maybe a 5-minute shinobi sprint. They eventually reached a massive wooden gate, connected to a fence, or wall rather, of equal proportions.

Naruto noticed a large spiral on the middle of the gate. Minato walked up to the spiral and placed his hand on it. The spiral reacted to his touch by glowing in a bright red for a second and then opened so they could walk through it.

Naruto was greeted with a massive, yet perfectly clean, garden and a pathway leading to what was an enormous beast of a house.

"Welcome to your new home, son. Our family house." Minato said.

Naruto's eyes were as large as dinner plates and his jaw naturally hit the floor.

"W-W-What! I'm gonna live here!"

"Yeah. It's our house." Minato explained.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! AWESOME!" The blonde enigma screamed, making his happiness quite obvious.

With that, he dashed to the front door to inspect the inside.

Centimeters before he reached the front door, the door opened, revealing none other than his mother and the only other female in his life so far; Hinata.

Gone were the bulky jacket and the Capri pants. All Hinata was wearing was a tightly fitting tank top. It was dark blue, a color similar to what Sasuke preferred, and had a two diagonal silver lines running from the hem of the shirt to just where her chest began. Her Capri pants were replaced by a set of black shorts that stopped just short of her knees.

Her clothes did little to hide the fact that she had a body that women twice or thrice her age would commit murder for. Whilst she was only 12, she was most definitely developing into the right direction, and even Naruto saw that.

Kushina was wearing a set of black shorts too and a crimson shirt that she often wore under her Jonin vest.

Because Naruto was running towards to the door at such a pace, he had to use every ounce of control he had learned over the past month to channel chakra into his feet at an instant and come to a halt directly in front of her, their faces barely apart.

Standing so close to her, inhaling her fresh, innocent scent, made Naruto realize just how much he had missed her. Spending time with her was incredibly fun for him and she was a great training partner as well as teammate. Not to mention that she was beautiful and his best friend, being with him through quite a bit up until now. His mind randomly drifted to the moment just before the first assassination attempt by the Hyuuga Clan… She had asked him if he liked her. Why would she ask that sort of question…?

Before Naruto could spend any more time thinking about these things, he realized that a greeting might be a good idea.

So he did what he did best: surprising everyone. Breaking the rules without knowing of their existence, he wrapped his arms around her and gave her a very tight hug.

Hinata was probably the one who was the must surprised. She couldn't even say a word. She hadn't even said 'hi' to him! He must be thinking that she's rude and didn't like him… But all those thoughts vanished when Naruto wrapped his arms around her. Unconsciously, her body responded and her arms embraced his waist. She could feel his body through the thin shirt and Kushina's prediction was most certainly accurate. Before she could think any further, her ears picked up something that she never thought she would hear her crush say…

"I missed you, Hinata-chan."

She was the only one who heard him say it, as Kushina had already walked down the steps to greet her husband and Jiraiya, who had already whipped out his trusty old note pad and wrote down the key points of this scenario. _'This kid is worth gold!'_

After a few seconds, Naruto let go, almost to his, and her, disappointment. He smiled a bright smile.

"Hi, Hinata-chan! How are you? It's good to see you, it's been so long!"

The shy girl had to fight down the urge to stutter and/or faint and did her best to give a happy and confident reply.

"Hello, Naruto-kun. It's great to see you too… How was your training?"

"It was great! But we can talk about that later, for now you'll need to show me around the house, Hinata-chan!"

And so, the young Namikaze grabbed the young Hyuuga's hand and pulled her inside for a tour of the new house the two would be living in from now on.

/

Sasuke was stabilizing his body on one knee as the Chidori formed around his right palm. Sweat was running down his face in small streams and his face was red. The imitated chirping of a thousand birds filled the air as the electricity became brighter and brighter. His shirt had been discarded a long time ago, as he decided that it was too good to get dirty from this.

Naruto was in a similar situation, his shirt gone too. He was in a slight crouch, a blue orb swirling in his hands. The chakra streaking off from the orb contracted and added to the irregular chaos inside the otherwise calm orb. He too was sweating.

A smile tugged on the corner of Sasuke's mouth as he saw Naruto's technique. He forced himself off his knew and prepared to charge.

At the sound of an invisible sign, both of them started charging towards another, their representative techniques flaring from their chakras stabilizing the jutsu.

"Show me what you've learned in the past month, Sasuke!" Naruto yelled as his legs carried him towards his best (male) friend.

"I'll show you, Naruto!" Was Sasuke's answer as the two were just about to collide.

Before the two powerful jutsu could clash, a strong pair of hands grabbed both Naruto's and Sasuke's wrists.

"ARE YOU TWO FUCKING RETARDED?"

**A/N: What's up everyone? It's been so loooooooong, and I'm really sorry, but here's a new chapter for you all. It's kinda diverse, with a bit of everything.**

**Now, I'm leavin' ya hangin, for now at least. Next chapter, we will see more of the things Team 7 has learned over the month, in action, of course. Hinata, Sasuke, Naruto!**

**A big, BIG, shout to my pal kitsunegamer375. Without him, this'd be a whole lot harder to write. He's given me so many jutsu to use, and I encourage you to do the same! Just send me a PM (or a review, if you prefer) with your jutsu and it'll eventually end up in my story. Credit and thanks will be given, of course.**

**Please review!**

**Love, Matimac.**


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